To Rebuild From Ashes
by Heaven's Reaper
Summary: Many scars are left by the war. Scars that only time will heal. KL & AC. FINALLY UPDATED!
1. Chapter 1

Gundam SEED: To Rebuild From Ashes  
  
Chapter I  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, blah blah blah.  
  
Note: I'm not very good with writing, and I am not a 100 percent sure about the plots involved with Gundam SEED. So spare me the ridiculing because I already know. However if you know something that is wrong and know why it is wrong, and can help me correct it I will be grateful.  
  
Deep in the heart of space, away from the beautiful and yet tainted Earth, a teenager woke in a small and dreary room. He woke from a well needed sleep that was laced in exhaustion and grief. For the teenager, sleep was one of the only places for him to find happiness. For it was the only place for dreams to become temporary reality. He dreamed often of the war that had taken place to have never happened. And for a few hours it was real. However as he woke he was once again consumed with grief at knowing that his imagination was just that, an imagination and nothing more. The teenager was somewhat relieved however of the current situation of the war, for at the moment the fighting had stopped.  
  
For the moment there was peace for a hasty cease-fire was called upon by both sides. It wasn't clear if this temporary cease fire would be able to be lengthened to an uneasy peace or if the battle would soon start, again. However for the young man it was a relief none the less. He got up and changed from his civilian clothes to the required clothes of the ship. The young man that was adorned currently in his Earth Alliance military standard outfit with the nametag "Kira Yamato" was all but a passive participant of the war almost a year ago. He was in a war, but at the time not of it. However an attack at his home colony, Heliopolis changed that in a matter of minutes.  
  
'How pointless this war is. How many have died at my hands? How many have suffered for my sins? How many have killed in retaliation for my sins, therefore making others want to retaliate for their sins?' Kira thought.  
  
Kira would have broaded more if not for a faint knocking on the door to his compartment.  
  
A soft and soothing voice spoke, "Kira it's time to get up, we have to report to the bridge for the peace-talk."  
  
Kira knew by the serenity of the voice that it had to be the beautiful siren formerly of ZAFT, better known as Lacus Klein. She was the former pop star of the PLANT's and now the leader of the ship that Kira was currently on. It was strange how fate changed people's lives. From one moment she was one of the most revered person on the PLANT colonies, and the next an outcast deemed traitor. She was now with a faction of her own, the Klein Faction, with neither being an ally of the Earth Alliance or the ZAFT organization.  
  
Kira got up as if in a daze and walked towards the door. Upon reaching the door a green mechanical bird flew towards Kira and stood on his shoulder. Kira smiled remembering how the bird was the reason for his survival. Even now thinking about it, Kira didn't understand how the neo-bird found him in the depths of space. It was considered that when a human being was separated from their mobile suit or space ship they were all but lost to anyone and everyone. And by some miracle he was here, still alive.  
  
Kira opened the door revealing the leader of the Klein Faction and the owner of the ship Eternal. She was adorned in her usual clothing in this ship, what looked to be like a while sleeveless coat with golden edges, with a purple kimono-like dress. Her pink hair was up and in a ponytail- like fashion. Behind her was Athrun. He was also in his military suit, the ZAFT maroon issued attire. Athrun seemed tired and depressed and it showed with his usual well kept dark blue hair had strands here and there, and also his eyes green eyes seemed darker then usual.  
  
Kira guessed it was because of the fact that his father died, dying in front of his eyes. Kira didn't know the full story but he heard bits here and there from Cagalli. Even she wasn't sure for she wasn't actually there. Kira's heart went out to Athrun however, because of the fact that he himself never went through what Athrun had; he could never truly help him out in his time of pain.  
  
"Ready." Lacus said.  
  
"Yeah let's go." Kira said putting up false bravado that both saw past.  
  
The three had an uneasy silence on their way to command room of the Eternal. All three were within their own thoughts and no one wanted to break the other's thought.  
  
They soon reached the command room where most of the crew were already there waiting for the commander to arrive. Andrew turned around from his seat as they entered and briefed Lacus on what was currently happening.  
  
"The EA and the ZAFT organization wants to speak with the Klein Faction and Orb Union in order to negotiate peace." Spoke Andrew.  
  
It was clear to everyone in the room that the Klein Faction/Orb Union was supposed to be the mediators in the talk, because at least one captain of the ships within the faction had the support of one side or another, Lacus Klein with ZAFT and Captain Ramius with the EA.  
  
Andrew told Lacus, "Ms Klein we are receiving transmission from the Archangel and the Kusanagi."  
  
"Transmit them through screen A & B." Lacus requested.  
  
On what Kira guessed was screen A & B, Captain Ramius and Cagalli appeared in their respective military attire. To him, Captain Ramius seemed to have aged 10 years in the last day alone with the lose of her lover, Mwu. She seemed ready cry but was putting up a valiant fight to not seem weak in front of others. Cagalli on the other hand seemed somewhat pleased. She seemed to have the horrors of war shadowing her face, but rarely could anyone can be seen without that, so in all things considered, she seemed alright.  
  
In a tired voice Captain Ramius said, "Good morning Ms. Klein, and good morning Ms. Attha."  
  
"Good morning captain, good morning Ms.Attha." Spoke Lacus.  
  
"Good morning all." Spoke Cagalli with the energy of both Lacus and the Captain combined.  
  
Kira had to fight down a smile at Cagalli's usual lack of formalities. It was good for them to know that some things never changed. He looked towards Athrun and it seemed that he too was trying not to smile.  
  
"Does anyone know the extent that this negotiation will cover. I mean are they gonna just cover their peace talk or on to other matters." Cagalli asked in confusion.  
  
He knew that Cagalli was never good with politics, and from the looks of it she won't be anytime soon.  
  
"I'm pretty sure they will only go for the peace talk, for the moment Ms. Attha. The two groups want more then anything to end the fighting... for the moment." Lacus responded in a polite term.  
  
"Yes, I agree with Ms. Klein, it seems likely that they will push for peace talk because they are in such a rush to get this negotiation underway." Spoke Ramius.  
  
For a while the three captains of their individual ships traded questions on what would happen at the negotiation. Obviously the loudest voice was Cagalli, what with the Orb Union now in ruins they would need rebuilding.  
  
"Why do they want to do this under video communication instead of in person, wouldn't the agreements made in person with like a contract and such signed be better?" Asked Cagalli.  
  
The Captain sighed while responding. "It is that neither side trusts each other or us for that matter. Also the communication for each of the ships will be broadcasted to make everything that is said under this negotiation legal. The real question is would making it legal matter or not in the long run."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well many times in the past agreements between nations and organization have been broken." Lacus clarified.  
  
"Yeah, I see what you mean." Realization dawned on Cagalli.  
  
It was obvious to Kira that she was remembering the neutrality status of the Orb Union with agreements made on both sides that they won't be attacked as long as they were neutral. Of course in the end it didn't matter for the EA still attacked Orb.  
  
"We are receiving transmission from the vessel "Luggernaut" and "Cancer" of the EA and the "Justice" and "Liberty" from the ZAFT. It seems that this is it." Andrew said.  
  
"Transmit it through." Lacus replied.  
  
From what Kira could see from the screens the other captains received the same message from their co-captains.  
  
Screens C-F lit up with faces.  
  
"This is Joseph Johnson aboard the Earth Alliance vessel Luggernaut. I have been appointed along with another colleague to be advisor for the Earth Alliance." Said Joseph.  
  
"And I am Hovsep Jorge aboard Cancer with the Earth Alliance."  
  
"This is Lance Krop with the ZAFT organization aboard Liberty."  
  
"I am Bruce Freeman from the battleship Justice, and I am also with the ZAFT."  
  
"Now formost I would like to thank everyone for responding to this call for peace. I understand that everyone here has experienced the hardships of the war, or else I am sure that you would not be here trying to negotiate for peace..." Spoke Hovsep.  
  
To Kira the negotiations were mostly pointless, with more pointing fingers and putting up a professional front then getting anything done. Neither side wanted to accept the fault of the war, nor while Kira agreed that no one side was responsible they blamed the other and only the other although they did it tactfully. Not wanting to embarrass themselves over what would be broadcasted with "minor" edits here and there. Kira admired Lacus and Captain Ramius' political abilities, and was even amazed by Cagalli's sudden change in character.  
  
She seemed to be calm herself while constantly yet seemingly gently remind the Earth Alliance of their wrong doing to the Orb Union. She seemed to portray herself calm and only seeking help yet slandering the Earth Alliance at the same time. Even the Earth Alliance official senator/spokesman could not argue with her cases. Not while trying to sustain their image.  
  
At the end the Earth Alliance agreed to fund repairs to the Orb Union and ZAFT and the EA seemed to have made an agreement to "Sustain peace between what are both human beings and not let past prejudices rule ours lives ever again." It seemed formal enough and more then vague to allow leg room for just about anything. However it was a start.  
  
The negotiation was called to a break, which was to take place again tomorrow at 10 AM, Space Standard Time. Kira noticed that Lacus was tired, for the negotiation took 2 hours long. It was now close to 11 AM and many were feeling the pains of hunger. Kira and Athrun waited for Lacus before exiting the main bridge to the mess hall. There they picked up there trays of ration and sat down.  
  
Athrun was the first to speak after picking at his food for the most part.  
  
"So what do you think about this peace talk Lacus?" Athrun asked tiredly.  
  
"I'm not quite sure, it seems that the two sides want to end the fighting but they can't stand the idea of being more then civil to each other." Lacus replied honestly.  
  
"Too many scars." Kira added in, suprising both of then for his usual nature was more quiet nowadays.  
  
The two nodded and went back to eating their food. They continued their broodings in silence. None of the three were very optimistic of how stable the peace that they were trying to form was going to be. They sat there for a while seeing many soldiers come and go, lost in there own thoughts.  
  
Kira suddenly got up and carried his tray towards the kitchen. He deposited the trash and exited the mess hall with the eyes of both his friends trailing behind him. His body seemed to know where to go without any instructions leading him, and Kira soon found himself in the hangers.  
  
"What'd ya want?" One of the technicians asked him.  
  
"I need to borrow a spare ship." Kira replied.  
  
"HAHAHA, all the spare ships are either out in space or in here as chunks." The technician replied.  
  
Just then a ship flew in the hanger. The pilot exited revealing herself to be Cagalli. Kira rushed to Cagalli.  
  
"Cagalli I need to use your ship."  
  
"Ok... why?" She asked.  
  
"To check up on something." Kira replied vaguely.  
  
"Alright, when will you be back?" Cagalli asked.  
  
"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I say in a day, give or take a few hours."  
  
"Why that long, and besides how am I gonna get back to my ship for tomorrow's negotiations?" Cagalli asked suspicious of Kira's motives.  
  
"The thing I need to check up on is a good distance away, and you can use one of the spare ships that will return later." Kira said hurredly.  
  
"Okay just make sure you come back safe and sound." Cagalli replied knowing that she won't get the answers she wanted.  
  
"Okay, thanks." With that Kira rushed off to the technicians to tell them to fill the ships with fuel. He rushed into the changing room to put on his space suit when a voice startled him.  
  
"Are you okay?" Lacus interrupted.  
  
"Uh... yeah I'm fine, just gotta do something for the peace of mind." Kira replied continuing to change into his space suit.  
  
"You will be alright Kira?"  
  
"Yeah sure, I'll be fine."  
  
"May I go with you?" Lacus asked.  
  
"No where I'm going for the moment is far away, you won't be able to return for the negotiations." Kira replied.  
  
"Oh, okay..." Lacus answered feeling a bit down.  
  
"Stay safe Kira."  
  
"I will, after all I have your ring still." With that Kira exited the locker rooms and to the hangers, where the techs were done with their refueling. He entered the cockpit and readied for take off. Soon the techs gave the permission to launch.  
  
"Kira Yamato, launching!"  
  
The ship flew out of hanger of Eternal and Kira directed the coordinates of the place for Mendel colony. From his calculations Kira estimated that it would take 8 hours of drift with a short thruster to the Mendel colony. It would save fuel to allow for the trip back and to search around the colony for what Kira needed.  
  
Cagalli watched Kira leave from one of the windows of the Eternal. It saddened her to see that he didn't rest and enjoy the peace. However in her heart she knew that no one would ever truly be able to distance themselves from the war. It would always haunt them.  
  
She shook her head of this thought and walked on towards what she presumed was Athrun's living quarters. On the way she saw a little girl curled up on a bench. She walked up hesitantly noticing as she got closer she noticed it was not a little girl at all, but it was Lacus Klein. It should have been a dead give away that it was her just by the fact that she was the only one on this entire ship and presumably the world to have natural pink hair. She was shaking every now and then in her curled up position.  
  
Cagalli hesitantly reached her hand towards Lacus in fear or doing something wrong. She called out Lacus' name gently as to not startle her. However her hopes were in vain for Lacus snapped her head to look at Cagalli. Cagalli noticed her face racked with tears, however Lacus hastily wiped them away.  
  
Lacus stood up quickly and put on a smile on her face. It was more forced then usual, which didn't say much for she rarely smiled for the joy of it, however learning early on to put up a fake face in front of people. It was easy for Cagalli to notice that it was fake.  
  
"You don't have to keep putting up a brave front you know. You don't have to seem strong in front of everyone, your human and everyone will understand when you show your true emotions." Cagalli tried to reason with Lacus.  
  
Lacus didn't seem to hear her, for she kept up her façade, even after Cagalli's speech. And although she didn't take Cagalli's word at heart she was touched by the concern of the tom-boyish girl.  
  
"I don't understand what you mean Ms. Attha, however I am grateful that you would care enough to try and help." Lacus replied formerly.  
  
Cagalli sighed, and accepted that Lacus did not want to talk about it, obviously she wasn't in Lacus' trust high enough to get to know her that well. Cagalli watched as Lacus walked away with a sad, morbid look and continued unward to Athrun's living quarters.  
  
She got there soon enough, and knocked on the door. The door opened relatively quickly. On the other side was the man that she believed that she loved, the man that helped her through hardships in her time of need. She truly did have strong feelings for him but didn't truly know if she loved him though.  
  
Athrun opened the door to his room and was surprised to see that it was Cagalli on the other side. He moved aside to let her in and she walked in. He sensed that she was somewhat depressed about something, and it was unusual to see the girl that acted so tough to be depressed about something.  
  
Of course there was the time where her father died and he did comfort her from that. However even then she tried to act strong. He wondered what could make such a person of the caliber be down.  
  
"Athrun, I'm worried about Lacus." She was blunt and straight to the point, as usual.  
  
"What? Why?" Athrun replied.  
  
"I'm worried that she's bottling all her emotions in. I think she needs to talk to someone. Someone she trusts."  
  
Athrun knew who she was implying, but didn't think it was wise that he be the one to talk to Lacus.  
  
"Why Kira, he and Lacus seems close enough."  
  
"I would, but Kira isn't here-"  
  
"What! Where is he?"  
  
"Stop interrupting and I'll tell you!" Cagalli replied in a upfronted voice.  
  
Athrun smiled to see that she was acting her usual self again.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Athrun replied sheepishly.  
  
"Well, he took my ship and flew off somewhere, I'm not exactly sure, but he flew to what I'm guessing is the Zeta 3-C section of space. I don't know more then that but he said that he'll be back in a day. So you see you have to talk to her. You really should before she goes more into depression."  
  
"I don't know her that well. I truly believe Kira will be the best to talk to her."  
  
"How can you not know her that well! You have been engaged to her for freaking sake. You have been chosen to marry her at like what, 2?" Cagalli asked in disbelief.  
  
"I have been engaged to her, however Lacus and I rarely saw each other even back when we were engaged. It seemed as if fate were against our marriage from the start. Also everytime she and I talked it was formal, rarely close. We both knew that we were to marry each other, and we had no choice in the matter. However I think even then I saw her as of my friend or something."  
  
"There! At least you know her that well, you should talk to her. And besides even if Kira was here, he would only have met her for what 4 times?" Cagalli said seemingly proud of the fact that she got Athrun cornered.  
  
"I'm ashamed to say that it seems as if within that 4 times of meeting, they bonded closer then my 14 years of knowing her." Athrun replied.  
  
"It doesn't matter Athrun, Kira isn't here, and for sure won't be for at least a day. You need to talk to her."  
  
"Look, I'm sorry, but I won't talk to her. She will just put up her wall that she puts up for everyone. It seems that she only shows her true self to Kira. So all in all it would be pointless even if I talk to her." Athrun replied tired of the conversation.  
  
"But-"  
  
"But nothing Cagalli, was there anything else you came to visit me for?" Athrun said, trying to steer the conversation to somewhere less morbid.  
  
"Yes, but we do that later, right now-"  
  
"Do what later?"  
  
"Nothing if you keep interrupting me!" Cagalli said being really annoyed for his interruptions.  
  
The argument could have lasted for what could have been all day and night if there wasn't a knock on the door. It gave Athrun a hasty excuse to cut off the conversation. He opened the door to find one of the ship lackeys in front of him.  
  
"Message from Lieutenant Bartfield, Pilot Zala sir. He requested your presence in the command room."  
  
"Understood, I will go there as soon as possible."  
  
"Affirmative." The lackey walked off having his duty done.  
  
'I hope what I did was right. You better come back safe Kira, or I'll hurt you myself for all the crap your causing me right now.' Athrun thought as he said goodbye to Cagalli and walked towards the command room.  
  
I'm not pro at writing fanfictions. This has taken me about two days to write, and I'm not hundred percent clear about the Gundam SEED universe, so constructive criticism will be appreciative. 


	2. Chapter 2

Gundam SEED: To Rebuild From Ashes  
  
Chapter II  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, blah, blah, blah.  
  
Author's Note: Thanks to all the reviewers. And a special thanks to USS Kenji for helping me with the confusions of the story. Also please don't advise me to improve my grammar. I know my grammar is horrible and just by telling me to improve will not make it grade A material. I wish that were the case, then I would easily ace school. However all other constructive criticism will be appreciated.

* * *

Athrun made his way to the command room in relatively little time considering his distance away from the place. As he entered the room he noticed that not many were currently stationed there. Only a few were loitering around and they were mainly those of who managed the radar and communications of the Eternal. Also in the middle of the command room was Captain Bartfield. To Athrun, it seemed as if he rarely left the command room. Athrun walked up to the captain, standing a few feet away from him saluting. It didn't really matter considering that the Captain wasn't even facing his direction and wasn't going to but he did anyways.  
  
"Captain, Pilot Zala reporting in sir."  
  
"Yes, pilot do you know the reason of Pilot Yamato's departure?" Bartfield asked with his chins in his hand, his facial expression would show that he was in deep thought. Not that Athrun could see it.  
  
"Not really sir, however Cagalli has said that he was heading in the direction of the Zeta 3-C section of Earth's orbit."  
  
"Yes thank you pilot for that information, however our computers have already come up with that information."  
  
Athrun flushed at his information's uselessness.  
  
"However pilot, how does Ms Attha know where Pilot Yamato has departed to?"  
  
"She saw him from the observation parts of the ship."  
  
"Is that all?" Bartfield asked seeming a bit disappointed.  
  
"Yes but she did speak with him."  
  
"Really...?" Bartfield asked intrigued. "Get me Ms Attha, have her come to the command room at once." Bartfield directed to one of the soldiers that managed the communications.  
  
"Permission to speak freely sir?" Athrun asked.  
  
"Yes, of course." Bartfield replied.  
  
"Why is it that you are looking for Kira? Has he done something that I should be aware about?"  
  
"No, no he is not going to be put under arrest or anything." Here Bartfield gave a short laugh. "Not that we would be able to bring him back if that was the case anyways. Yet, the truth of the matter is, given past history we are not a hundred percent sure of his stability. It is rather normal for a person to detach themselves and do something stupid after war. With the assurance of the peace they have too much time to think about everything they have done within the war. At least that is the cases on the majority of the front line soldiers."  
  
"What do you mean?" Athrun asked, for he was slightly perturbed by what the captain was saying.  
  
"Too make it simple, many soldiers need psychological help. I was going to order Pilot Yamato to see the psychologist we have on board sometime today or at the very latest tomorrow, however it seems that he had other plans... Pilot I'm truly worried for his well being, I don't think it's safe for him to go through this without help."  
  
"Why don't you send someone after him?" Athrun questioned.  
  
"I am not sure of the pilot's motive. For all I know he may be trying to avoid anything military for a long while to come. However in my opinion I don't think he is trying to escape, however that is as far as I am willing to conclude on what he might be up to. However do you understand my concerns now?"  
  
"Oh... I guess I understand." Was all Athrun said, after could he possibly say to something like that.  
  
"Good, then you won't question why you will report to Dr. Garcia after I dismiss you."  
  
"No I won't question your order sir, I understand." Athrun replied going back to military formality.  
  
Both were left deep in thought as the door to the command room opened.

* * *

Cagalli walked into the command room wondering what was going on. She walked towards the captain noticing that Athrun was still at the command room. She stopped next to Athrun and spoke to the captain.  
  
"Uh... I'm here captain."  
  
"Good, now can you tell me everything about your conversation with Pilot Yamato?"  
  
"Kira?" Cagalli asked confused.  
  
"Yes." Bartfield answered.  
  
"Um... he said that he was going to use my ship to check up on something."  
  
"Did he give you anything more then that? An actual reason or was he that vague?" The captain asked.  
  
"No, that's all that he said." Cagalli answered.  
  
"Damn!" Bartfield shouted surprising everyone in the room. He usually wasn't the type to lose his control over his emotion, and to the crew, he seemed to be the role model of the perfect soldier.  
  
He sighed then replied, "Well... I guess calling you two up here was for nothing, and I'm sorry for wasting your time. Can you two think of any reason why he might go to Zeta 3-C?"  
  
"No." Was Cagalli's response.  
  
"I can't either sir; I only know of one time that he went to that area of space, at least to my knowledge." Athrun replied.  
  
"When was that?" Bartfield asked.  
  
"Well... it was in one of the battles that happened several days ago. However I wasn't there with him. The only person I think was with him was Pilot Mwu. And fat lot that does for us. The only reason I even knew where Kira went was because of... Dearka!"  
  
"What?" Bartfield asked.  
  
"Well Kira and Mwu initially went to the Zeta 3-C region chasing a rogue mobile suit. I'm guessing it was Rau's however Dearka followed them along with Yzak." Athrun emphasized.  
  
"Rallard! Get me the Archangel and let me talk with Pilot Dearka!" Bartfield yelled to one of the communicators.  
  
"Pilot Zala and Ms Attha you have been most helpful, you may now leave. Also pilot, don't forget to go to the infirmary." The captain said to the two teens.  
  
They nodded, and exited in confusion. Cagalli was especially confused at the captain's concern over her brother. She didn't understand what Kira would do to make the captain worry so much over his location.  
  
"Athrun, what's going on?"  
  
"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but from what the captain said, he doesn't trust Kira's mental stability at the moment. He doesn't know if Kira is doing something that is good for his sake right now. I'm not quite sure what his definition of unsafe refers to. Maybe he thinks that Kira is trying to desert.  
  
"That's stupid why would he desert the military after the war is over?" Cagalli asked not fully getting it.  
  
"No, not deserting from the military, deserting from his past life. You know go incognito so that his past life is just that, in the past."  
  
"Oh you don't really think that he will do you, Kira isn't one to just abandon us." Cagalli asked feeling a fear in her heart that she doubted those words.  
  
"No, he wouldn't under normal circumstances, however he believes the war is over. That he doesn't need to protect his friends anymore. At least that is what I'm guessing he's feeling. I truly believe that he believes that his 'job' is done so that he doesn't have to hang around anymore."  
  
"Don't say that Athrun." Cagalli said weakly.  
  
"Don't worry Cagalli that is just one of my ponderings, it's probably anything close to being the truth." Athrun said, trying to calm Cagalli down. _'But would the truth be any better?'_

* * *

_'Damn that boy, he's making me worry. God damn! The war just ended and I'll probably end up getting more grey hairs by him.' Andrew mused as he waited for Dearka to answer to the broadcast._  
  
"This is Dearka Elthman, what is the reason for your calling?" A noise filtered through the channel before the connection on the screen completed itself.  
  
"This is Andrew Bartfield, captain of the Eternal, and I have a question that involves your past participation in combat." Andrew said, thinking that announcing himself and his rank was rather pointless, seeing as how most of those on the Archangel already knew.  
  
"I understand captain, of what battle are you questioning me?"  
  
"It is the battle where you, Pilot Yamato, and Pilot Fllaga disappeared for 20-30 minutes."  
  
"Oh is that so captain. Well what is your question?" Was Dearka's intrigued response.  
  
"I would like to know where you and the other two pilots went." Andrew said.  
  
"I believe that we went to some colony captain." Dearka said.  
  
"There are no colonies according to the readings. Just some junk here and there." He heard from the captain, Dearka could tell that he was confused.  
  
"I know captain, it wasn't a inhabited and fully functioning colony. For all I can tell only the air system of the colony worked."  
  
"So are you saying that Pilot Yamato went to some destroyed, useless colony?"  
  
"Yes Kira, Pilot Flagga, and I went to the colony of which you speak."  
  
"Hold on there... Yes I have information of the past colony its name was "Mendel."  
  
"As interesting as this conversation is captain, what is the point?" Dearka asked getting annoyed at the conversation going nowhere.  
  
"We have recently understood that Pilot Yamato has went back to the Colony Mendel, and we are trying to figure out why." Was the captain's response.  
  
"I am not sure of why he went there captain. I was separated with Kira at arriving at the colony. The only person with him was Pilot Flagga, and I'm guessing Rau."  
  
"Understood Pilot Elthman. Thank you for your help."  
  
The communication closed, and Andrew was still hungry for answers. He got to the point of knowing Kira's destination however that was it, not the motive. 'What are you up to Kira?'

* * *

(8 hours later)  
  
Kira found himself awaking from his sleep by a beeping noise within the ship. It indicated that he was near his destination of Memphis. He adjusted the settings to allow him to manually pilot the ship, allowing him to enter the colony unscathed.  
  
Kira flew into what could be considered the colony's main hanger. He exited the hanger with his space suit on knowing that he only needed to reach the other side for breathable air. Kira didn't understand how the colony still had air in it even though it looked to be non-functioning and non- repairable. He also didn't truly know what happened to Memphis nor did he want to find out, at the moment. He was there for a different purpose.  
  
He retraced his steps to where he followed Rau in the previous battle. After a brief walk he found himself in front of the building that carried the information he sought. Kira went towards each of the computers at the labs hoping to find if there was any still functioning. It seemed a hopeless search until he reached a room that was very deeply rooted into the building. It was a room that seemed to be the library of everything that was accomplished at the lab.  
  
Kira already knew that he was the only survivor of the tests and that he was considered to be the "Ultimate" coordinator. However that was just about all he knew. He didn't understand how he was so special. He fought at an average level compared to the other coordinators. Barely beating some of them, and he knew that he was equal at level of skills to Athrun. So he didn't understand what was different about him. What required countless years of research to achieve one boy? What was the backbone of this operation?  
  
He spent several hours searching through everything and anything that seemed vaguely important. After 5 hours he basically absorbed decades of research. At that moment he was grateful that he was a coordinator. For it would have been hell had he not been one to get all the information needed in the time that he was hoping for.  
  
Kira found, at the immediate look at things that he was only slightly improved compared to the coordinators of the time. He was enhanced to the fullest of his abilities without completely mutating the genes for overloaded alterations. However it was in the long run that he was superior.  
  
Currently coordinators were feeling the pains of their genetic altering in their 3rd generation offspring's. And it seemed that the whole of the coordinator lives would be lucky to reach their 4th-5th generation, for complications occurred at that time. The PLANT government at this time was covering up this "screw up" pretty well with only a certain few knowing of it. Hoping to reduce panic and have their scientist work frantically to search for a cure. The scientists that were at the labs knew in advance of this genetic screw up and seemed to have already made a cure.  
  
The cure that lied interwined in Kira's very genetics. His blood carried the genetic structuring that could cure the genetic fuck up of every coordinator, so that their offspring's won't be "defected." The only question that laid in his mind, was did it work. For it seemed that the scientists of this lab died without fully completing the tests. It was hypothesized that all he had to do was donate a bit of blood to one coordinator, and his genetics would automatically join with the coordinator receiving the blood.  
  
From there the genetic structuring would spread like a virus, only this virus would save lives and not harm it. For all the coordinators receiving the blood would automatically infuse their defected genetics with his genetics altering it ensure prosperous offsprings. Then they too would spread with their blood donations. It seemed like a good chain reaction theory.  
  
Yet Kira didn't know what to think. He wasn't an expert in genealogy and wasn't going to kid himself anytime soon into believing he was. What would his genetic do to naturals. Surely even though their offsprings won't be freaks or whatnot, they will somehow get effected from this ever transmitting "virus." Would that also mean Kira's other genetic structuring also mutate the coordinators genes? Will they somehow turn up with purple eyes or brown hair like him? Were the scientists advanced enough to kill the side effects or were they that desperate to ensure the coordinator's survival that they would forfeit humanity's individuality.  
  
_'I need help from someone that is an expert at this. But who can be an expert at this and still not have found a cure themselves? If a person were to be able to help me they should have been able to be smart enough to help the coordinator race. Would that also make me Blue Cosmos' number 1 target? Did they even know of the Coordinator's genetic fault?'_  
  
_'I'm thinking about this too much. I should be more optimistic about this. I'm the hope for the whole coordinator race.'_  
  
Kira went back to the hanger wondering how he was going to present his dilemma. Would the others even believe him, most likely they don't even know about the fault in the coordinator's genetics.  
  
Note: Yeah review I'll appreciate it, helpful comments here and there. Lol, hope you liked the story but I think that my updating is going to come at a slower rate after this. Summer school is increasing the intensity a level or two. 


	3. Chapter 3

To Rebuild From Ashes  
  
Chapter III  
  
Disclaimer: God I hate writing this... well I don't own jack-shit blah, blah, blah.  
  
Author Note: Wow! Thanks for the reviews, I got reviews from almost all of my favorite Gundam Seed writers! Awesome, well I hope I don't boggle this fic up, hope you guys will like how this place will go.

* * *

Lacus Klein entered the command room to the Eternal feeling even more tired then she usually was. Still, she put up her usual façade that ended up fooling most of those that did not know her well. Only Andrew and Athrun realized her deception for what it was, but thankfully kept quiet about it. They knew it was not their place to say anything even if they did want to.  
  
She took her normal seat above and at the centermost stop of the command room while calming her-self mentally. In 15 minutes time, there would be a continuation from yesterday's negotiation to ensure peace between two long- opposed forces. She feared if she somehow messed up and caused the two sides to aggrevate one another, it might cause another war.  
  
She felt that it was upon her and Captain Ramius' shoulders that laid the hopes of most of human race. Lacus could only imagine that the Blue Cosmos would be against this very peace treaty to ensure coexistence between the Coordinators and Naturals. She sighed realizing that even if this peace treaty were to be successful, there would always be factions to revolt. That there would always be prejudism and no time would erase that from human existence. Prejudism for Coordinators might somehow cease but it would always flare up in another form. Such was the folly of the human race.

* * *

Athrun looked at his once-fiancé in worry. She put up such a strong front that it hurt him. It hurt him to know that she rarely let anyone in the see the true her. It hurt him to know that she believed that she needed to keep up this façade for others. He felt horrible for her to have such a burden upon her shoulders. To not be able to express her true feelings, to not be able to mourn her father's lose, to not be able to mourn her former friends that died. At least he had someone to support him during this time of grieving, and yet right now the only one he could think of helping her was off to only god knows where. (And us!)  
  
_'Damn you Kira, what could be so important that you would ignore your duties. Not even you can be that ignorant to believe that you are the only one suffering... What are you up to?'_  
  
He remembered yesterday, where he and Cagalli comforted each other in their morbid thoughts. Again it was Kira that caused such pains. Not just to Lacus but to him and Cagalli also. But they helped each other and were able to somewhat ignore the pain. However Lacus didn't have anyone to do that with.  
  
He felt so worried for her that he even ignored his little speech about him not being the best to talk to Lacus, and tried to talk to her, to get her to open up. But the only thing it did was prove his theory on her reaction to his help.  
  
He sighed causing Andrew to look up at him. Athrun knew that Andrew also worried for Lacus, but he hid it better then anyone else he knew. Athrun himself was lost on what to do, he hated not knowing how to help a friend. He shook his head just hoping that leaving it alone for now would be best.

* * *

The negotiations ended without many problems. It seemed that the whole point for the negotiations was for some sort of dramatic conclusion to this peace talk. Politicians, go figure. How Cagalli hated them could not even be described. Arg!  
  
She went back to her room wishing she could be with Athrun. With that thought also came an annoyance that she somehow came to rely on him. Her once independence was now somehow destroyed through his caring self. His ability to listen and understand her problems broke through her independent walls.  
  
It scared her to have someone understand her so well. It was different and she hated difference. Difference made change and change meant adaptation. She hated it more when she was with Athrun she found that she wasn't in control anymore. She hated not being in control. However none of these emotions were as strong as the strange emotion which she never felt before. She didn't know if this emotion was the double bladed sword that was considered a joy and at the same time broke so many hearts also. She didn't know if this was the emotion was truly love, yet she enjoyed the feeling the emotion brought nonetheless.

* * *

"This is Kira Yamato receiving permission to dock on the Eternal."  
  
"This is Yasha Hiroshi, Eternal's Flight Maintenance Supervisor; you have received the green to dock."  
  
"Understood"  
  
Kira flew the ship into the hanger of the Eternal, letting go of its controls. The ships gracefully entered the ship thanks to the magnetic fields of the hanger guiding the ship in. He was extremely tired and glad to be back to the closest place he felt to home, with his friends. On the ship he didn't have an easy time sleeping. He woke up constantly knowing that of the Coordinator race on the threat of extinction. He was constantly tormented by the knowledge and woke up screaming.  
  
Athrun, Lacus, and many others might not be able to continue their linage if this keeps on. He knew for a fact that they were the second generation of the coordinator blood. Even if this would not affect them directly, the knowledge that their children's children would face dire problems was not a pleasant one. He wanted to cry and he probably would later on.  
  
He sighed and realizing that he did that a lot nowadays. He shook off such a stupid thought and entered the locker room. He took off his suit and placed it in the laundry basket for sterilization. Kira exited the room half asleep and never noticed the damage that was about to inflict itself upon him.  
  
A shocked Kira found himself against the now closed door with a blinding headache. He couldn't think straight, everything seemed a blur to him. He reached up to his cheeks and winced with pain as he came in contact with sore skin. He also tasted something coppery in his mouth. He noted that it was blood and wondered if one of his teeth fell out.  
  
Kira looked up to see who punched him and realized that it was a furious Athrun. His former friend/enemy was looking at him as if he was a piece of garbage. He could tell that it took all his self control to not beat him into a pulp. Kira was very confused at what was doing and why.

* * *

Athrun heard from the captain that Kira's ship was coming into port and felt glad that his long time friend was safe. However the feeling was soon gone and overcome with rage for the pain that he caused his friends. He floated himself out of the room and sped past the hallways of the ship. He put and extra push to the automatic moving handles to speed up to get to his destination faster. Athrun stopped outside the doors of the locker knowing that Kira would pass by it sooner or later. He knew for a fact that Kira always came out of this door out of habit and he would wait till he did.  
  
He didn't have to wait long, for his friend soon exited from the door. And even sooner found him-self against the wall with a fast developing bruise. Athrun saw that Kira was confused and that enraged him even more. He didn't even realize how much strain he put on all of them!  
  
_'Calm down, Athrun you have to calm down. After all you have to at least hear what the ass has to say for himself. You have to at least know why your going to kill him. Then you may kill.' He told himself._  
  
"WELL! What do you have to say, you left and disappeared for a day! Where have you been, do you know what we have been through! We have been through hell trying to figure out where you went, even Bartfield showed some concern for your safety!" Athrun was all but screaming at Kira.

* * *

Kira listened to his friends ranting and was ashamed at how much his friends worried because of him. However he wasn't ashamed of why he had to do it. In fact he was confident that he would do it again if he had to. He also knew that nothing short of Armageddon would stop him.  
  
"I did what I had to do, and I'm sorry. I went to check out my past and that's all I'm going to say. If you don't like it, I'm sorry. But this is my secret and my secret alone. You knowing about it won't change anything, anyways." Kira said downcast.  
  
He looked up to Athrun and knew that it didn't please him in the least. If anything it pissed him off more. In a blur he found himself against the wall with Athrun choking the life out of him. He was shaking Kira back and forth and he didn't seem to want to stop anytime soon. Kira was soon running out of air when he found he could breathe again.  
  
He noticed that they have created quite a commotion and it luckily brought along a few strong, curious passer Byers. Even now it took 3 grown coordinators to hold Athrun back from kicking Kira's ass. Kira got up and quickly walked away before Athrun got away.  
  
He walked up to Lacus's room in a hurry. He knew that he wanted to see her but that wasn't the reason for him rushing up there. He knocked on the door to her room and waited patiently. The door opened to show Lacus holding the pink Haro that Athrun gave her in two hands.  
  
"Kira? Your back! What is it, do you need something? What is that on your cheeks?" Lacus asked happy that Kira was back.  
  
"Um... Lacus it would be best if we spoke about this in private." Kira said.  
  
"Okay..." With that Lacus backed up allowing Kira to enter the room. He walked up to her desk and turned around. The door was soon closed and he looked at her. He wanted to tell her his feelings for her, but he knew that business had to come before something as stupid as emotions. Even more so when the business that needed to be completed had so many lives at stake.  
  
"Lacus, what are your connections with the PLANT organization? How much power and influence do you think you have?"  
  
"What?" It was safe to say that Lacus did not expect the question.  
  
"How much influence do you have in the PLANTs?"  
  
"I guess I have powerful people by my side, especially with the former PLANT leader gone..."  
  
"Would you be able to arrange a meeting with the foremost scientist in the fields of genealogy for me?"  
  
"I believe so..." To Lacus the conversation was getting stranger by every comment. She didn't understand why such a topic was being brought up.  
  
"Well could you do that? I need to speak with that person as soon as possible. This is urgent Lacus I wouldn't be wasting your time if it wasn't."  
  
"Alright Kira... If you say it's important I believe you... I'll try my best to get a response for your meeting." She said slightly downcast.

* * *

Lacus was confused but mostly depressed. Here she was talking with the person she had feelings for and he wanted to talk about some meeting with a scientist. She could tell by his face that it was important, but she wished that he would at least talk with her. Maybe ask about her day, how the negotiations went, or how she was feeling. She desprately hoped that he would ask about how she felt. She knew that she could open herself to him. At least that is how she felt when she was around him.  
  
She looked up to Kira's face noticing its relieved appearance. He seemed as if the whole world was somehow better by her help. She was somewhat pleased that she could help him, but wished that he would talk to her more. She wished that she had a shoulder to lean on for support when she needed help. She was so lost in this thought that she never noticed Kira approaching her.

* * *

"Thank you Lacus." Kira said while hugging her. He didn't know why he hugged her, but he was extremely grateful at how she always helped him in times of trouble. He was hesitant on hugging her but did it anyways. In his heart he knew that this was what he wanted, but his brains told him otherwise. It told him that he was somehow betraying Fllay. That he was disgracing her memory. His heart countered that Fllay would want him to be happy, and that Lacus was the best place for his happiness.  
  
The epic battle that took place between every person's heart and head was now taking place within Kira's. He didn't know what to do, but he came to a compromise. He wouldn't push his current position with Lacus into anything, but wouldn't refuse it if it came into picture.  
  
Kira hesitantly gave a soft peck on Lacus's forehead unsure of how she was going to react. He relunctantly backed away from Lacus and stood by her desk feeling awkward. It looked to Kira that Lacus had eased up a little. Almost as if the weight of the world had lightened it load from her shoulder. He was pleased at this and could see Lacus smile. He rarely saw her smile like this and he could tell this wasn't a poker smile. It wasn't a smile that was placed more as a mask then something to express emotion.  
  
He could tell that this smile was a smile of happiness and relief. She seemed to gain focus again and seemed to focus her eyes to something on his face. He was wary wondering what she was looking at when she exclaimed.  
  
"Kira what happened to your face?"  
  
"Oh, nothing really, umm I sort of banged my face against a... wall!" Kira was never good at lying and he sure didn't learn a thing or to about it in the last day.  
  
It was obvious at how Lacus didn't belief him. "Your cheeks are blue because you hit a wall, Kira?"  
  
"Well, yeah...?"  
  
"Are you trying to convince me or yourself Kira?" Lacus asked with amusement.  
  
Kira couldn't answer so he just looked away. He could tell that Lacus got up and went to somewhere in his room. He took a peak at what she was up to and saw that she went to get something in her drawers. She came back with a white box. She stood in front of him and opened the box.  
  
Lacus pulled out a tubing of some sort. At first he thought it was toothpaste but that made no sense. He saw he unscrew the cap and squeezed the tubed applying gel onto her fingertips. She closed the cap with some difficulty now that two of her fingers were occupied with the blue gel from the tube.  
  
She reached up to Kira and moved her hand to his cheek. He flinched expecting pain from her touch but was met with a cool sensation. Lacus rubbed the cooling substance onto his cheek and smiled when she was done. She backed away telling Kira that it would help with his bruise. He was glad that she didn't push the questioning of his bruise and smiled back when he felt the gel still cooling his right cheek.  
  
"So what's new?" Kira asked taking a seat on the floor.  
  
"Oh, the negotiations seemed to have come out better then expected."  
  
"It did?"  
  
"Yes... but there is still much animosity between the Coordinators and the Naturals."  
  
"That is to be expected... Scars take time to heal, and even in time some scars will never fully heal." Kira said with his every-once-in-a-while words of wisdom.  
  
"Do you really believe that Kira?" Lacus asked her voice suddenly quiet.  
  
"I wish it wasn't true... but I think that in some part of my mind that I will always believe it." Kira answered, horrified that the mood of the talk taking a turn for the worse.  
  
"Why, why would you believe that?" Lacus asked with unshed tears in her eyes.  
  
"I just can't begin to accept that all deeds can eventually become undone... I don't know maybe I'm wrong and I'm just being pessimistic now." He gave a harsh laugh that seemed so out of place for him.  
  
Kira looked up to see Lacus having tears drip down her face. She seemed so helpless at the moment it hurt his heart. It hurt him that somehow he hurt her, the sweet and gentle siren that enchanted him upon first laying eyes upon her. He walked up to her and hugged her. He hugged for all he was worth never wishing to let go.

* * *

Well... yeah I hope that you like this story. This story was more of like an exploration on character feelings, and I know I did badly on this considering that I always write emotional chapters bad. Lol but I wrote this in a day and I hope you all like this. Again thanks for all the reviews really appreciated. 


	4. Chapter 4

To Rebuild From Ashes  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Disclaimer: God authors must hate this useless part of the story. I don't own anything, blah, blah, blah.  
  
Author's Note: Thanks to all those that reviewed. I hope those that review write stories of their own so I can read their plots. I know some don't, but I encourage those that don't to at least try. It's kind of fun. I just hope writing here will help me with English at school.

* * *

Lacus felt herself being hugged by Kira, and she didn't know what to make of it. She felt comfort in his arms, and for the first time felt truly safe. She wrapped her own arms around Kira's waist almost fearing that he would let go. She blushed knowing that she wasn't in the most platonic situation at hand, however she ignored such thoughts and snuggled her head into Kira's shoulders. Her crying had stopped for some time and she just enjoyed the comfort of being in Kira's arms.  
  
"Lacus, do you want to talk about what's wrong?"

* * *

Kira almost felt guilty at breaking the calm situation at hand, but he knew that it had to be done. He knew from experience that such grief needed to be dealt with, especially with someone the person trusted. He hoped the person that she trusted was himself, but he could never be sure. Surely she would trust Athrun greater then him.  
  
It didn't matter though; she needed to get such emotions out in the open. She needed to deal with it with someone to help her through it. She helped him through his traumas and it was time to return the favor.  
  
He pressed forward. "Lacus you can talk to me. You do know that, right?"  
  
"Of course Kira... It's just hard, to talk about it."  
  
"You did it before, you can do it again. You can trust me Lacus. I'm here to help."

* * *

"It's just so hard Kira, to keep acting strong. To be the beacon for others..." She started forming tears in her eyes. Under normal circumstances she would have been ashamed at doing it in front of others, but with Kira she didn't care.  
  
"Then stop acting strong for others, you shouldn't have to. For once do what you want to do. Don't keep living a lie for others, live for your own happiness. It's okay to show that you human, no one will criticize you."  
  
Lacus didn't respond but she just hugged Kira more fiercely crying into his shoulders once again.  
  
  
  
Kira was getting a bit uncomfortable right now, it had been quite a while since either Lacus or him talked, let alone moved. They were still in the same position when he hugged her for the second time today. He wondered why it was so quiet and truly felt stupid after looking down. Lacus had fallen asleep all this time. He gently floated himself and Lacus to her bed. He laid her down and put the blanket over her.  
  
He looked at her face and saw a peaceful expression. He wondered how often Lacus felt at peace when she was awake. He backed away and grabbed a chair that he didn't notice before. He flipped it around and sat down. He just sat and watched Lacus, he knew it was wrong to stare like he was doing, but he couldn't look away. He kept on staring at her face, almost as if he was addicted.

* * *

(Morning)  
  
Lacus woke up late in the mornings, not knowing where she was. She looked around and noticed that she was in her room, however she was confused. She didn't remember going to bed but decided to question it later. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She felt unusually stiff for some reason and noticed that she still had on her uniform dress. She noted with a sigh that it was all wrinkly now. However Lacus was glad that she didn't need to wear the dress today. There were no formal occasions today, which Lacus thanked the deities, an unknown number of times, to.  
  
Lacus pulled the blanket off of her and leaned her body out of the bed. She faintly noticed that she was not alone in her room, and wondered what was going on. Still tired she looked closely and noticed that Kira was sleeping on her chair. It seemed really uncomfortable and she decided that she should wake him up.  
  
She felt sorry at how sore his back would be from such an uncomfortable sleeping position. She shook Kira gently coaxing him to get up. Kira stirred and looked up at her dazed. Lacus saw Kira blink to get the sleep out of his eyes and giggled. He looked amusing trying to wake up. Lacus saw Kira blush, and it made him look all the more adorable. She couldn't help but giggle more but she stopped seeing that he was squirming from the embarrassment  
  
"Well, good morning Kira. Did you sleep well?" Lacus asked cheerfully, knowing full well the truth of his answer.  
  
"Um... not really." Kira replied sheepishly.  
  
Lacus smiled knowingly and backed away. She looked at Kira once again before walking to her closet. She opened it and grabbed some clothing for her to wear. She then closed the doors again and looked at Kira again.  
  
"Well I have to take a shower, I'll see you later Kira. Thank you for your help." She walked up to Kira and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking to her restroom. She turned on the showers and checked the warmth of the water. After being satisfied of the heat, she stripped herself of her clothes and planned to take a nice long shower.

* * *

Kira just stood in Lacus' room wondering what to do now. He knew he was hungry, but he was wondered if it would be best to wait for her. He knew that girls usually took a long shower and he didn't know if he could wait that long to eat. He could if there would have been something to do, yet he couldn't think of anything to distract his hunger. Then he looked down at his clothing and noted that he too needed washing.  
  
He walked out of Lacus' room and went to his own. He took out some civilian clothing and walked to the public showers. He washed himself fairly quickly and dressed. He savored the comfort of his civilian clothing and walked out. He somewhat rushed to Lacus' room and entered it again. After entering he chided himself of his rudeness. There always could have been a chance for Lacus to have been in the room doing something that might have been private. However currently that was not the case because he could still hear the showers running.

* * *

Lacus sighed getting out of the showers. She heard the doors close before entering the showers so she figured that Kira left. She figured that she would have done the same thing knowing how long she usually took showers. She wrapped her hair in a towel and grabbed another towel to wrap around her body and walked towards the bathroom door. She grabbed the clothing she brought in figuring she could dress in her room. After all it was much more comfortable and easier in there.  
  
She opened it and was shocked to find Kira still there. She blushed furiously and quickly closed the door again. She was incredibly embarrassed and changed into her clothing rather quickly within the bathroom.  
  
She exited the bathroom and meekly said, "Sorry, I thought you left. I heard the door open, so I just assumed..."  
  
"No, No! It's my fault, I left and got dressed. Then I came back, so you were right to assume that I left. I'm sorry." Kira said very embarrassed.  
  
"You came back? Why?" She asked intrigued all of a sudden.  
  
"Did I do something wrong? Oh I'm sorry I shouldn't have, I'm sorry I'll leave." Kira said very embarrassed and insecure at the moment.  
  
"No! That's not what I mean, I was just wondering why you returned. I'm sure you are hungry now, are you not Kira?" Lacus asked.  
  
"Well, yeah I am... but I thought I would wait for you, it seemed like the right thing to do." Kira said with his hand at the back of his neck, incredibly embarrassed at such a horribly flat response.  
  
"Oh! Thank you, that's so nice!" Lacus said with more enthusiasm in her voice. "Well I'm sorry but may I have time to brush my hair? It is sort of messy right now." Lacus indicated to her hair that was still wrapped in a towel.  
  
"Oh, not at all, I can wait."  
  
Lacus nodded and went to her drawer. Within her drawer was a box that held her usual vanity appliances. She took out a pink brush and walked to sit on the edge of her bed. She undid her towel and grimaced at her still somewhat damp hair. She tried to dry it one last time before brushing it. It didn't get much accomplished but she didn't care. She started brushing her hair starting gradually from the bottom up.  
  
Lacus didn't notice it at the moment but she started singing one of her songs. It was a habit that she couldn't break ever since she was a young child. She brushed her hair, not noticing how relaxed Kira was at hearing her voice.  
  
**"Mizu no naka ni yoru ga yureteru  
  
Kanashii hodo shizuka ni tatazumu  
  
Midorinasu kishibe  
  
Utsukushii yoake wo  
  
Tada matte iraretara  
  
Kirei na kokoro de"  
**  
Lacus took a look at Kira and smiled at what she saw.  
  
**"Kurai umi to sora no mukou ni"  
  
She saw his face take on a peaceful expression.  
  
"Arasoi no nai basho ga aruno to"  
**  
She was glad that her song could do that.  
  
**"Osiete kureta no wa dare  
  
Dare mo ga tadori tsukenai  
  
Soretomo dareka no kokoro no naka ni"**  
  
Kira had his eyes closed and he had a dopey smile on his face.  
  
**"Mizu no nagare wo shizumete  
  
Kureru daichi wo uruosu shirabe  
  
Ima wa doko nimo nakutemo"  
**  
Lacus was done with her brushing and was just singing for Kira now.  
  
**"Kitto jibun de te ni ireruno  
  
Itsumo, itsuka, kitto  
  
Mizu no akashi wo kono te ni  
  
Subete no honoo wo nomikonde nao  
  
Hiroku yasashiku nagareru  
  
Sono shizukesa ni tadoritsuku no  
  
Itsumo, itsuka, kitto  
  
Anata no te wo tori..."  
**  
Kira seemed at peace for the moment, and Lacus didn't want to break such a moment for him. It was rare to see him totally at peace so Lacus savored his expression and just continued to look at him. Kira soon seemed to break out of his trance and smiled sweetly to her.  
  
"That was nice Lacus."  
  
"Thank you Kira, are you ready to eat now?"  
  
"Yes I think I am."  
  
"HARO!"  
  
Both of them jumped forgetting about the pink Haro completely. It was so silent the past day that Lacus herself forgot about it. Lacus smiled thinking that Haro understood how special the moment was for her and kept silent. She bent down and picked up her mechanical friend for several years.  
  
"Well hello Pink-Chan, did you have a good day?"  
  
"HARO, YES, HARO!"

* * *

Kira smiled watching Lacus; she seemed like such an innocent at the moment. Playing with her toy HARO, it reminded him of when he first really met her at the Arch Angel. It was his first true talk with her in her room. After all the commotion that Lacus received from Fllay. Even now he was embarrassed at how his former friend/girlfriend treated Lacus on the ship.  
  
He watched Lacus and felt something in the depths of his chest. He didn't know what it was but it felt nice. He patiently waited for Lacus to finish talking with her Haro and just enjoyed spending time with her. Kira saw her turn around and face him.  
  
"Are you ready Kira?"  
  
"Yes" Kira answered amused at answering this question many times already.  
  
"Then lets go, I am also feeling rather famished."  
  
Kira nodded while opening the door. He turned and exited the room, waiting for Lacus to also exit the room. She walked out with her Haro held in both her hand and they both walked towards the mess hall.

* * *

(Command Room of Eternal)  
  
"Do you think this is wise, what is your view on this?" Andrew asked.  
  
"Yes I believe for the moment this is the best course of action. There is an ever growing threat of the Blue Cosmos, and we should be the forces that deal with them. It shouldn't be that surprising considering that the Naturals would never trust ZAFT enough to allow its forces free roam on Earth, and that the Coordinators still do not know how much the Blue Cosmos has infiltrated the EA forces."  
  
"Yes, neither sides trust each other, so they bring up their wild cards, in hopes of us being successful, and it's obvious they don't trust us, what with them each sending a pilot of their own." Andrew said sarcastically. "Does the Orb Union know about this?"  
  
"Not at the moment, the news just came to me from one of the EA Supreme Counsel that supports us. You also have received word from a ZAFT member have you not?"  
  
"Yes, I did a few moments ago."  
  
"Just making sure, but while we have the support of the EA or ZAFT, the Orb Union is in limbo with them right now. So I'm guessing that I will have to tell them sometime soon."  
  
"Roger, so this is it then, we still can't be allowed to live our lives." Andrew said, for once showing his exhaustion.  
  
"Try not to see this as war, but as a peacekeeping operation. See us as the police if you will." Captain Ramius said trying to ease the situation of things a little.  
  
"Still doesn't change the fact that our lives are still brought to a hold." Andrew said spitefully.

* * *

It was not a good day for a teen named Athrun Zala. He spent much of the last evening being quarantined for attacking a fellow soldier. Then he was released in the morning. After that he spent most of the morning looking for his friend to hurt him some more, and even now he couldn't find him. All of that and the fact he was hungry didn't make matters better. He had ignored food in order to search for Kira, but it seemed like such a waste now.  
  
He grudgingly went to the mess hall planning on eating then continuing his search for Kira. He entered the mess hall and found to his surprise that the object of his search was in the mess hall all along. He wanted to scream in frustration, but also noticed that Kira was currently eating with Lacus Klein. They both seemed to be enjoying themselves and that somewhat eased his anger at Kira.  
  
He smiled while walking to the mess hall's kitchen. He grabbed his tray of food and sat at a table far in the corner. He watched them from a distance while eating, and noticed that both Kira and Lacus seemed much more at ease around each other. For the moment all his thoughts of hurting Kira went out the window as he saw how much Kira was helping Lacus. Even if they didn't realize it they were helping each other just by being with each other.  
  
Another person sat next to him scaring him out of his thoughts.  
  
"Do you mind if I join you?" Cagalli asked.  
  
"Wha- Oh of course I don't."  
  
"Good, you better now." Cagalli said in amusement.  
  
"Are you always going to come to the Eternal? I mean you probably spend more time here then on your own ship... excluding the time for sleeping that is."  
  
"What, you don't like me spending time with you?" Cagalli huffed with mock indignation.  
  
"You know that I love it when you're around me, but you have to admit your crew must be annoyed that you spend more time on a foreign ship then your own. What would they think about the leader of Orb spending more time with the Klein faction's ship then their own? They must be really hurt." Athrun said, with an extra emphasis on the 'leader of Orb' part, knowing how annoyed she was about the leadership role she would play in the Orb Union.  
  
"Well tough for them. I want to spend time with my boyfriend, and nothing will stop me." Cagalli said poking Athrun.  
  
"That's good, have you seen Kira and Lacus?"  
  
"Yeah, it's a relief to see them like this, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes, it is." Athrun said.  
  
"Come on hurry up and eat faster, let's have some fun today."  
  
"Fun? Were on a battleship what can we do for fun?" Athrun asked.  
  
"Good point, but there has to be something, anyways rumor has it were going one of the Plants, so we can have fun there."  
  
"Oh really, why are we going to one of the Plants?"  
  
"Well smart one, we probably need supplied considering how long we have been out in space."  
  
"Yeah, but why go all the way to the Plants, why not just get a supply ship to come?"  
  
"Well we all need a stretch of the legs and so I guess the Plant are supposed to be a place to do that.  
  
"Oh, that's good, I wanted to get out of this ship for a while anyways. I feel so confined in such a place." Athrun added.  
  
"Well that's good. Supposedly were going to a Plant near us so... it might take an hour to two. It's a good thing that we were drifting towards the Plants anyways or it might take forever to get there." Cagalli said.  
  
"Yeah... Well we might as well do something till we get there, what can we do...?"

* * *

"Looks like Athrun and Cagalli are having fun." Lacus said.  
  
"Yeah, and it looks like they're trying to be inconspicuous in leaving. I wonder why?" Kira said with a grin.  
  
Lacus giggled, while looking at the happy couple that was exiting the mess hall.  
  
"Lacus, are you going to talk to the Plant council so that I may talk to the leading genealogist. Who is that by the way?"  
  
"Um... I haven't talked to them yet, because I was preoccupied as you know. But I think the person you're looking for is a woman named... Heather... Frelow."

* * *

"Oh, well whenever you have time, can you arrange a meeting?" Kira asked not really thinking that time was sparing, but he didn't want to worry Lacus, too much.  
  
"Okay Kira, but do you want to talk about why you need to talk to her? I mean you don't have to but I really wish I knew why you want to speak with her."  
  
"Do you really Lacus? I'll tell you if you really want to know, but not here too many people.  
  
"Umm, sure Kira, let's leave now and we could talk in your room."  
  
"No it'll be better if we talk in your room, less chance of someone hearing through the door. Especially since yours is soundproof."  
  
"Okay." Lacus said wondering just how important what he had to say was, considering that he was never this cautious before.  
  
They reached Lacus' room and entered. Kira locked the door and sat down on Lacus' desk chair. Lacus sat on the edge of her bed and looked at Kira. She was waiting patiently for him to tell her what was going on.  
  
"Well this has to do with... I don't even know what the name for this is. But it has to do with the end of the 4th generation coordinators. Maybe under some cause they might even reach the 5th generation, but that's about it. The majority of the coordinator race will die by this "defect" by the 4th generation."

* * *

Lacus felt her heart twist. She knew of this "defect" as they called it already.  
  
"Kira, this defect is already known by the Plant's high council and most of the high ranking genealogist. Telling Ms. Frelow won't change anything. Even I just found out about this a year ago when I overheard my... father speaking with one of the council chairmen at our house." Lacus' voice cracked when talking about her father.  
  
It hurt Kira to hear Lacus when she talked about her father. He felt guilty but right now he had to make his point clear. "I figured that the Plant's council knew already and were just keeping it a secret. At least I know that this is true. That would make my next case much easier to explain. What I found by going to Mendel colony is a cure to this defect. I know that it sounds funny, I just happen to go to this rogue colony and I find a cure to a problem that the Plant's leading scientists have been trying to cure for god knows how long. But it'll be too hard to explain further then telling you that I have a way to cure it. That is why I need to talk to Dr. Frelow."  
  
"Oh? A cure..." Lacus wanted to believe that a cure for the coordinator race has been found but she couldn't help but be skeptical.  
  
"Lacus you don't have to understand right now, all you have to do is trust me. Do you trust me Lacus?"  
  
"Of course Kira, I'll always trust you." Lacus said.  
  
"Good, then you need to arrange that meeting with Dr. Frelow."  
  
"Alright, Kira. What are you going to do now?"  
  
"Well, I'm going to go to the hangers; I just remember that I forgot something. I'll talk to you later Lacus." Kira floated to door and unlocked it. He opened the door and exited. He calmly went to the hanger, figuring there was no point to hurry. He got there in a few minutes and he walked out to the hanger storage space. He was glad to see that the ship he used yesterday was still there. He opened the cockpit and dug around.  
  
Kira pulled out a laptop that he brought from the run down lab. It's memory capacity wasn't gigantic but it was enough to store the lifework of the lab in it when he flushed all the extra software in it.  
  
Kira walked back into the main hull of the ship knowing that the laptop was one of the easiest ways to prove what he knew. And to also explain it to Dr. Frelow. He just hoped that he got to talk to her as soon as possible. The knowledge of what he knew was heavy on his heart and he just wanted to rid the burden as soon as possible.  
  
He went back to his room and placed the laptop inside his drawer. He then closed it locking it with a key. He knew he was being foolish into believe that someone would try to steal something it. The fact of the matter was that no one even knew about the contents of the lab top on this ship, save for a few, let alone know that it was on this lab top. He walked out of his room and wandered around not knowing what to do.

* * *

(About 2 hours later at a Plant)  
  
"Come on; let's go get some real food!" Cagalli said while dragging Athrun.  
  
"Alright, alright there's no need to rush." Athrun said laughing.  
  
Kira watched them from a distance smiling at their at-ease manner. He looked to his left and saw that Lacus was also amused. He tapped her shoulders to indicate that he had a question.  
  
"What do you want to do?" Kira asked.  
  
"I'm not quite sure, why don't we eat a real lunch for once, then maybe we'll think of something to do from there."  
  
"Okay, sounds like a plan."  
  
They walked to a normal restaurant and took a seat. Those few that were already eating must have noticed Lacus Klein for they stared. It unnerved Kira at their stares, even if they were not directed at him, it was in his vicinity. He wished they would stop, but Lacus seemed ignorant to it so he didn't do anything. Kira ended up ordering a steak with potatoes and salad. Lacus ordered a small salad with clam chowder for the side.  
  
When they finished Kira paid, having collected a fair amount of cash from enlisting in the military. They didn't pay much, but considering that he didn't have to pay for much while in the military it was sufficient. He left wondering what they should do.  
  
"Oh Kira, now that I remember, your meeting is scheduled for next week. I can arrange for you to have leave around then so that you may go visit the Plant that she is on. I reserved the whole day for you, in case you need that long to speak with her." Lacus told Kira.  
  
"Oh, thank you. So what do you want to do now?" Kira asked.  
  
"Hmmm... How about we go to the..."

* * *

(Eternal)  
  
"Load up the cargo, and be careful this is important equipment." No one important said.  
  
"Yeah, yeah I know. We'll get our asses handed to us if we fuck this up. Besides I don't we could do anything to damage this considering it's been on the battlefield and still came back in mostly one piece." Second no one important said.  
  
"Idiot, it had the Phase Shift Armor on." Third no one important said. (Do you see a pattern?)  
  
"Oh yeah, still it's pretty hard to damage these things, either ways."  
  
"Yeah, just load up the Freedom II and then we can get on loading Justice II also. Then maybe we can go to the Plants and eat. God knows were the only ones not to."

* * *

(Archangel)  
  
"You heard the captain, fix the Buster Gundam on the double. We never know when an enemy might strike." Kojiro said.  
  
"Don't you think your being a little bit too paranoid?"  
  
"Are you stupid you heard what the Captain said, there might be a threat of a Blue Cosmos rebellion anytime now! Were probably it's main target considering the we are the only ones that are truly pulling the weight for peace between Coordinators and Naturals." Kojiro said.  
  
"Okay, okay if you say so. At least all these extra supplies are coming in handy for the repair."

* * *

(Kusanagi)  
  
"How are the repairs to Strike coming?"  
  
"It's 95% repaired, we should have it done in an hour."  
  
"How about the rest of the Astrays, how are they coming along?"  
  
"Well they are 80% complete we have more trouble finding able pilots. Most of them won't be able to pilot anything for at least a month. We'll just have to make do, we can scavange pilots from other ships, I believe that some of them don't have anything to pilot anymore."  
  
"Don't see how that's logical, I mean how do you come back alive, but your suit isn't repairable?"  
  
"Who knows, who cares."  
  
"Well I for one go against letting some deck washing scrub pilot a mobile suit for the first time. Who knows how much damage a single idiot might cause."  
  
"Yeah, yeah who knows we might not even need those extra scrubs, but we'll train them just in case. So no need to worry about scratched being put into your precious suits."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, you have to wonder, when will the fighting ever end?"

* * *

Author's Note: I'm sorry this has to be the most corny and out of whack story ever. I reread it and I can see that it has grammar problem, however I just don't know how to correct it. Don't you just hate that? Knowing that you have a problem, just not knowing how to fix it?  
  
By the way thanks for all the reviews, hope to update soon, but I seem to have come to a writers block. I know the destination I want for this story but I can't find the road to get there. 


	5. Chapter 5

To Rebuild From Ashes  
  
Chapter V  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything...  
  
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, and to all those that write fics also, keep it up. Also I just noticed that Kira never went to see a psychiatrist for treatment, so let's just say he did in the last chapter when he couldn't think of anything to do.

* * *

Athrun returned to the Eternal in a hurry, having his day with Cagalli cut short. He was in the middle of his date, when his cell interrupted him. It told him to return at once to the mess hall and that really downed his mood, having his already rare free time being interrupted by his duties. It was a fun day none-the-less, but alas all good things must come to an end, and it was no exception for Athrun. Cagalli ended up going back to the Kusanagi, and he had to report back for duties.  
  
He entered the mess hall with a curious expression. Supposedly he was to go there for a new briefing. Athrun truly didn't know what the point of this meeting was, in his mindset, he was a soldier and the war was over, period. Unless the peace treaty that was formed had already broken, which was very unlikely, he couldn't see his need in the military anymore. Also how important could this meeting be if it were to be held in the mess hall? As he looked around, he saw Kira already there with Lacus, sitting in her usual seat. It wasn't a big surprise to see them here before him, considering that he and Cagalli went to the outskirts of the town looking for things to do. However the biggest surprise to him was the number of people in the mess hall. It seemed... no it was all of the current members of the active Klein Faction. Even the repair-men were there.  
  
"Okay now that everyone is accounted for, first let me start off by saying that I'm sorry to cut your leave short." Andrew said.  
  
Athrun snorted, he couldn't even consider such a short break a leave. Andrew glared at him and he made sure not to act up again.  
  
"Well as I was saying, I know you planned to have fun on the Plant, but there has been a change of plans. We, as the Klein Faction/Orb Union, have been requested a new assignment under the agreement of both the ZAFT and the EA. We are asked to perform peacekeeping missions throughout the current legal areas of the ZAFT and the EA government. This basically means that we have to prevent uprisings and if need arises do it by force. Now, strictly speaking, I don't think we are legally military. It seems like we are more of a volunteer work force that has government approval. That means that none of you in this room have a requirement to stay. However I am reminding you that these small uprising can spark the start of another war. What we are doing is crucial to having peace. After all what is the point of fighting for peace if you won't maintain it? Now I'll give you a day to think about this, and anyone that decides to walk won't be questioned. We'll fund your transport home and you can be on your way. Just think about this deeply. Return here at 1100, you are all excused" Andrew concluded.  
  
Athrun exited the crowded mess hall in a hurry, and he saw that many were in deep thought. He couldn't blame them; he too was in thinking deeply. Did he want to risk his life more, forgoing the chance to live a normal life? But then again, what did he have to go back to, sure there was Cagalli, but if she stayed for the peacekeeping mission then he'll be stuck. He thought that was stupid, after all she was now the leader of the Orb Union, or what was left of it. This meant that she had to take leadership roles. She wouldn't have time to actually take part in the peace keeping mission. She might have to organize and fund it or whatnot, but she wouldn't have to actually fight... Who was he kidding, knowing Cagalli she will probably fight no matter the reason.  
  
What about Kira and Lacus, he wasn't a hundred percent sure about Kira. He didn't have to fight anymore, but would he? Would he feel somehow bound to the obligation of protecting others? Could Kira actually get on with his life, when there was a choice of protecting others? Lacus would no doubt be needed in some way with the Klein Faction, and he knew that she wouldn't back down; she too had nothing to return to. But he also knew that she most likely would not be fighting, she might be used as a political asset to bring support for this new peace keeping operation, but not to fight. He hoped that he could come up with a solution later, but for now he was too confused get a clear conclusion.

* * *

Kira sat on the bed in his room wondering what he should do. He knew with all his heart that he wanted to return to a normal life. 'If life could ever be viewed as normal after this' he bitterly said. He wished that life would have been simpler. He wished that life wasn't so full of hard choices that had to be made.  
  
He wondered what his friends would choose. What if he was to leave but they all stayed, what would be the point of leaving? And would they look at him with shame if he were to back down from fighting again? What could be gained from staying though?  
  
_'However I am reminding you that these small uprising can spark the start of another war' Kira remembered Andrew's words. Is what he said true? Or is it just a scare tactic to make us stay?'_ Then a vague past quote came to his mind, a quote that he even uttered from his own mouth. _'If I have the power to make a difference, I should put it to good use.'_ He remembers distinctly where he first heard that from.  
  
It came from the mouth of a man who put his life before others; a man who put his word into action and saved countless lives. He was a man who cherished those words to heart and gave his life while following it.  
  
_'How can I even think about having the slimmest chance of the war, that so many people died to end, to break out again? How can I, when I have the power to make a difference? How could I ignore it? How would I live with myself if the war did break out yet knowing that I might have made a difference? How can I live with myself if another girl, like the one on the Arch Angel dies because of the start of another war?'_

* * *

Lacus knew without a doubt that she couldn't back down now. After all she founded the Klein Faction, she had to follow through with the faction's obligation. She founded the faction to bring peace to the world, and this was one way to do it. So how could she not put her full support behind it?  
  
She just wondered what her friends would decide. Kira seemed so fragile before, but now, it seemed as if he changed. It seemed as if he carried himself differently. She didn't know what happened or why exactly but she did know he changed.  
  
Athrun was a mystery too, she would like to fool herself into believing that she knew him well before, but she never truly did. She knew the war scarred him, she knew ever since she got rescued by Kira and sent to the ZAFT warship. She saw his face, she saw his expression, she could tell in his eyes. It had a hardness to it that she never saw before.  
  
Cagalli was another matter, did Lacus consider her a friend. Sure they didn't hold any resentment towards each other, but neither were exactly anything more then civil to each other either.

* * *

Cagalli was depressed. She tried to escape her responsibilities but in the end it always seemed to haunt her. She tried to run away from her duties for the Orb Union, but it couldn't be ignored. How could she lead a nation, when she couldn't even make a wise decision for herself.  
  
She would never fool herself into believing that she was wise. She remember many mistakes that cost other's lives and nearly her own. How could she rule over a nation, without screwing up? She tried to hide it but she was scared. She was scared of failing others, and having the failure hang on her shoulders.  
  
It also irked her how she was forbidden to participate directly in the upcoming peace keeping mission. The whole idea sounded rashly thought up, they didn't even have a name for the operation. All of a sudden the pressures of responsibility started closing in on her.  
  
How could she rule a totally desolated nation, maintain a peace between the ZAFT and the EA, while also having to face everyday problems also? There was also the fact that she would have to represent the Orb Union at every up coming political meetings and that did not help her in the slightest. She groaned out of frustration.

* * *

(1100)  
  
Athrun walked into the mess hall looking worse for the wear. He was tired having gotten little to no sleep. He spent most of the time awake trying to make a decision and even now he couldn't truly decide. He knew no matter how much he thought about it the majority of the decision would lay on his friends' decision. If they stayed he would too, if they left he would also leave, in hopes of making do with his life with his friends.  
  
He was the earliest to arrive out of his group of three friends, including him, that was on the Eternal. He was surprised to say the least considering that Lacus was always prompt and on time. Kira he could understand, but what was keeping Lacus?

* * *

Lacus entered the mess hall with Kira in tow; she was slightly annoyed at not being on time to the meeting. She sighed figuring that Kira must be an incredibly heavy sleeper to stay asleep so long even when she was trying to wake him up. She looked towards Kira and noticed that his hair was even untidier then normal. She giggled at how he looked and started searching for Athrun in the crowded hall. Finally after some time, she saw him looking directly at her and Kira. He seemed to have a calculating look on his face and she figured that he must have been waiting for them to show, wondering why they took so long. She walked towards Athrun and stood beside.  
  
She kept silent as she waited for the meeting to start figuring that Athrun most likely needed his space. She presumed that if he wanted to talk, he would take the initiative. In a few minutes, after the last late scavengers entered, the meeting was ready to start once more. She tried to look at Athrun and see what he was feeling, however he had a blank mask on. She was surprised, seeing as how Athrun was never very good at hiding his emotions, especially from her.  
  
She looked to Kira and tried to see how he was feeling. Again she was shocked at what she saw; Kira's face held utmost determination and yet his eyes seemed blank, almost as if he felt no regret or emotion. It was unlike Kira to be so sure of something, and at the same time so indifferent about it. Both of her friends seemed so unlike their usual self that it surprised her, and in some way it scared her. She, at that moment, truly felt how much the war has torn through people's lives. Even before, when she got glimpses of such changes here and now, but never felt the full effects of the war on others. However here, now, seeing her two friends, both who were such nice and caring people, have such a cold appearance tore through her heart.

* * *

Athrun noticed it the moment they stepped into the room. He knew that Kira wouldn't leave, and Lacus wasn't going to either. He wished that they would have left so that he could leave with them, but he knew that if they didn't he wouldn't either.

* * *

"This meeting shall commence. I hope everyone here has made their mind up, for this is the time of decisions. This is the time where you will make one of the many crucial decisions within your life. Those who choose to leave step out of the mess hall, and proceed to the Plant. There the crew will organize your flight to your homes." Bartfield's speech was short. He did not need to dawdle considering that his point was already made yesterday.  
  
A few did leave, but not many did. It just so happened that many within the room were labeled traitors of ZAFT back when the war still raged. Those that had families were shunned by them, and even now when the soldiers were cleared of all charges, the stings of their family's betrayal upon them still lingered strong. Many had also been legally disowned for supporting the Klein Faction, so they had no legal home to go to. It was funny to consider that the currently nameless peace keepers of space and the Earth were outcasts. To have the peace keepers have so much spite was hilariously ironic.  
  
Kira himself did not stay for having no other place to go. He stayed partly because he believed in the cause of the faction. He believed with his heart that the faction's mission was just, and that peace would not survive without action. However those were not his main reason for staying.  
  
_'I will stay; I will stay and die if I have to protect it, that which so many have previously died to achieve. I will not let this fragile peace be broken, I can't let another little girl die because another war starts. A war born from human prejudice, a meaning-less war based on differences that make no set foundations to fight. I will fight to make sure no one else has to fight, I will with the others in this room, make sure that no one else has to go through what we've through.'_ Kira thought.  
  
"Are all those that stayed final with their decisions. No one will look down upon you, if you want to leave. It is nothing shameful to want to return to your lives, to return to your families and friends." Bartfield said, and yet, still no one left. "Very well, now that you have made your decision, you will be recognized as members of the "Pacifico's" Peacekeepers, any questions?" Bartfield asked.  
  
"What is Pacifico?" A nameless guy asked.  
  
"It is a joint union of the ZAFT and the EA organization. The Pacifico will be a organization that seeks to improve both the ZAFT and the EA's relation, with the two organization's having Co-leadership over the organization. It's Latin for peace and reconcile supposedly. Anything else, from you all?" Bartfield asked.  
  
"Yes, how is three ships with a force of about 50-70 strong in each ships, supposed to "police" all of ZAFT's and the EA's territories?"  
  
"We are going to have re-enforcements. More ships, more men, more M.S.'s" Bartfield answered.  
  
"Won't there be a chance that the people sent over would not agree with Peacekeeper? How are we to enforce our peace anyways, go in and slaughter all opposition? I don't mean to be negative, but I hardly see the need of creating a whole new organization to maintain peace. Especially when there are already military power for ZAFT and the EA. Why is there a need for three ships with a few M.S." Kira asked.  
  
"The truth of the matter is we are to be called into service, in case of a massive military threat breaking out. I don't want to sway anything one way or another, but there is ever growing threat of another chance of war, and we are here to prevent that. If there is an uprising that could threaten war, we will eliminate it."  
  
"Are you implying the Blue Cosmos? That you fear that they might make some sort of rebellion that could cause another war?" Athrun asked.  
  
"There is always the possibility; however they are not the only threat. There are many currently with influences that want to eliminate opposing forces. However I'm just we have to keep our eyes open for anything. Nothing is safe and sure."  
  
"What role will we ourselves play in it though; will we just scout around space or something?" Some soldier asked. "Everyone knows that the Blue Cosmos is a guerilla warfare type of organization. How are armed forces supposed to oppose them when we can't even locate them?  
  
"I'm not a hundred percent sure about that right now." Bartfield answered. "However as vague as the assignment is currently, the priorities in the long run are clear. We are to do anything to maintain peace; another war can not break out. Human kind can not survive another war."  
  
Everyone knew what he was talking about. With the technology on either sides, total annihilation was but a few corners away if war broke out. Kira himself was worried about how fragile humanity as a whole was to survive. Individuals dying was, as hard as it was to admit it, not as damaging as the entire race being threatened.  
  
"Right... well we will leave at 1300 for meeting with Junius Eight to collect ZAFT pilots, so that gives you about an hour or so of free time left. Do what you like but make sure you are on this ship by 1300 sharp, or you will be left behind. This meeting is adjourned." Bartfield concluded.

* * *

Everyone went there own way, including Kira and Athrun. Lacus however did not follow them; she instead went towards the captain of the ship, Andrew Bartfield.  
  
"Captain, what is going on?" Lacus asked, with a seriousness that rarely showed on her face.  
  
"I have already told you and everyone in the mess hall of what was going on Ms. Klein." Bartfield answered with a straight face.  
  
"I mean the truth; don't forget who is under whom, Captain Bartfield." Lacus said with a touch of coldness in her voice.  
  
"Of course mam, maybe it would be better if we departed for a place more private... maybe my quarter since it is near." Andrew said with a sigh.  
  
"Of course, then lead the way." Lacus said.  
  
They both walked stiffly to Andrew's quarters, knowing that the following conversation won't be pleasant. It didn't take them long to reach Andrew's living quarters and they entered swiftly.  
  
"Now Captain, what is it that you are hiding from the rest of the crew?" Lacus asked.  
  
Bartfield sighed, "It is not public knowledge, and only a few of high ranking people knows about the following information. You too would have known sooner, had you not been out of service..." Andrew trailed off knowing that he deliberately did not want her to be present when the news came. He didn't want to admit it, but he felt as if every kid in his ship was somewhat his responsibility, even when some exceeded his own ranks. He felt that every one of them should experience some happiness while under his command, and he thought if Lacus was ignorant about the news it would be easier. "The truth is, the threat of Blue Cosmos is even direr then anyone could hope it to be. Even before, we did not know how much support they had from the EA even thought it was clear they had some influence. It was a sever shock when the last leader of the EA was also found to be the Blue Cosmos' leader, and by then increased effort for intelligence on the Blue Cosmos went under way. Supposedly, ZAFT had intelligence within the Blue Cosmos, and have received word a week ago of an estimated percentage the Blue Cosmos had influence over the EA. They gathered this while the war still raged and just recently informed us also of the recent information. It seems that about 50 to 60 percent of the EA council is associated in some way with the Blue Cosmos. About 20 to 30 percent don't give a damn either way, and somewhere around 10 to 20 percent are pro-peace with the Coordinators. However they are just the people who pulls the strings behind the military-government, it isn't exactly clear how much support the Blue Cosmos has with the actual fighting force. Resentment for the Coordinator's are strong, but I'm hoping many are too tired and weary to fight again. However that may just be a fool's hope."  
  
"Everyone must hope; hope for the best, but always prepare for the worst."  
  
"Aye, and needless to say, ZAFT's informants aren't very influential within the military, but gossip is thick in the military. The top ones being war, and revenge. That is why this peace force is being set up so quickly. I believe it's just a front for a military force to be present in all the 'hot spots' if you get what I'm saying." Bartfield sighed. "Chances are open war won't be waged anytime soon, but I'm willing to bet assassination and bombings will be high for the next few months, maybe even years."  
  
"Assassination, how would peace keepers help with that, wouldn't body guards be best for those situations?"  
  
"Yes, however those are with normal cases, the peace keepers are to escort and protect at all times, the delegates for peace. Namely anyone that is pro-peace will be threatened by the Blue Cosmos, so we will have to protect them. It's not just regular assassination that is the risk; it's also small but effective guerrilla strikes."  
  
"So, even when the climax has passed, another is already building." Lacus said strained.  
  
"Yes, don't sound so surprised, you and I already knew the peace would be hard to achieve even after the war was over. War itself is the legal battle between people, however there will always be conflict between any two human's on the planet."  
  
"I may have already foreseen this to happen, but when it actually does it seems much harder to accept." Lacus answered truthfully.  
  
"Life is always full of hardships; I truly think that no matter where you go when you die, that is the ultimate peace compared to this God-forsaken world." Bartfield answered bitterly.  
  
Lacus sighed at how utterly torn everyone she met was nowadays. "Captain, I need to schedule a departure for Plant Junius Five in 5 days... hopefully to actually get there in six days from now."  
  
"Of course Ms Klein, the Eternal will have docked at Junius Five six days from now."  
  
"Thank you, have a nice day." Lacus exited the Captains room and wandered around, lost at what to do for the rest of the free time left before departing Junius Eight.

* * *

Kira had long ago separated from Athrun and was wandering the Eternal for no reason at all. Athrun had walked out of the ship long ago saying that he wanted to enjoy the open space of the Plant before having to be confined to the ship again for god-knows-how-long. It was by chance that he went into the hangers, or maybe because he already explored the rest of the ship before hand, leaving the hangers the only place left.  
  
He was more then shocked to see the duplicate of his past mobile suit stocked there looking exactly as it did from when he first stole it from ZAFT. He was flabbergasted at seeing it once again. He knew without a doubt that t couldn't be his past suit, considering that it most likely joined the debris belt of Junius Seven along with all the other MS's that were trashed beyond repair.  
  
Also next to Freedom was the MS Justice. He heart gave a wretch knowing that he would probably have to fly the Freedom again soon. He knew that it wouldn't be in this hanger just for decoration; he knew that if the crisis arises he would have to fight, maybe even kill. He whimpered but shut himself up, he chose to fight. He couldn't be weak, it wasn't as if he had to do it, it wasn't as if he was dragged into this as he was in the past war. No, he chose this assignment, he made his bed and he now had to sleep in it.  
  
'Might as well prepare then.'  
  
"Hey." He yelled to one of the repairmen.  
  
"What kid?" He yelled back, not out of annoyance but for the fact that he was far away.  
  
"Is the Freedom ready?"  
  
"Oh, are you its pilot? Yeah sure its ready I guess. By the way its name is Freedom II. Really original I know." He yelled.  
  
"Ok, thanks."  
  
With that Kira jumped towards the cockpit and opened it. He entered and sat back in a all too familiar seat. They might have changed the name, but the cockpit arrangement was still the same. He looked around quickly spotting a keyboard from the side of the cockpit and turned on the monitors of the Freedom. He started reviewing all the information of the Freedom II, adjusting the performance where it be needed. The suit wasn't that much different.  
  
It still had an N-Jammer Canceller, compatibility with the Meteor system, and the standard PS armor. The armament was the same; excluding the handheld beam rifle "Lupus" was changed. They seemed to have upgraded it a little, but not really significantly. The main differences were the armor thickness in various parts of the MS. He guessed that the creators studied a bit of his report data of the MS, and changed the armor plate thickness in the areas that had the most history of damages.  
  
Not much could have been done, he guessed under such short notice. He continued updating information to suit his MS's personal needs. The thing that bothered him the most was the output of the thrusters. It wouldn't give him the reaction speed he needed in a fight; even now he could remember how many times he got damaged by the MS inability to get away from attacks faster. The problem was he couldn't do anything to meet his needs without replacing the thrusters and rerouting the power of the Freedom itself. That was not something he had the time or resources to do.  
  
He tweaked his MS way past 1300 when by that time the ship had already left the Plant's dock. He didn't even notice the departure, nor did he notice a pair of sad blue eyes.

* * *

Lacus had wandered into the hangers several minutes ago, not knowing why she walked there. She saw many technicians working on some of the fighters and the spare MS's. She looked around and noticed the Freedom and Justice, both Kira's and Athrun's previous MS docked in the hanger. She herself was surprised the find two totally destroyed MS's in stock in the hanger.  
  
She looked closer and notice Kira was in the Freedom working with intense concentration making last minute customizations to the suit. She was sad to notice how much he was throwing himself into his work. He was starting to open up and be the carefree and kind individual she had heard from Athrun, and now she feared that he would start to shut everyone around him out. Including her... she didn't want it to happen, but if he did not much would make him change. She was sad at how conflicts were starting to arise again, after hoping that she, Kira, and Athrun would be able to get on with their lives.  
  
Live the life of normal teenagers and face normal teenage problems, like school and crushes. Now they found themselves in the middle of what seemed to be another escalating conflict thanks to the Blue Cosmos. She just hoped that everything that was rumored to take place was just that, a rumor.  
  
She shook her head wondering what would happen now...

* * *

Author Note: Sorry I took forever writing this. I seem to have had a major writers block, and also the fact that I had a huge headache didn't help matters. I think this is the worst chapter yet, not in terms of grammar, but the fact that my plot was so unsteady. After all if even the writer can't like the plot, who can?  
  
Jennifer: Thanks for the review, don't worry I'll try my best to finish this story.  
  
RVD: Thanks for your reviews, hope you don't mind me not progressing with the plot much.  
  
Deathzealot: Sorry my grammar sucks, I hate it more then you can ever hate it. Really sucks for school.  
  
Kira And Lacus Forever: Love your story, glad that you like mine. ( 


	6. Chapter 6

To Rebuild From Ashes  
  
Chapter VI  
  
Author's Note: Sorry that the plot kind of stopped for a while, going to get it going again.

* * *

Athrun was lying on his bed thinking about how much he missed Cagalli. It had been a day since the Eternal's departure from the Plant, and it was just as long since he last saw his girlfriend. He didn't know why it was taking, a six-hour direct-flight to Junius Eight, a day to get to the destination. He asked some of the crew members and they vaguely responded something about concealment. He didn't know what they were going on about, but guessed the real reason wasn't supposed to be known by many.  
  
By a whole day's confinement to the Eternal, he had done possibly anything and everything he could think of. He never noticed how boring it was on a ship when there wasn't a constant briefing of battles or some strategy making to do. He now understood how Lacus felt being confined to a small room with only HARO to talk to. He even went to the hangers and found his newly made replacement-MS for Justice.  
  
He knew without a doubt that it was a remake even before any of the techs's said anything about it. He self destructed a MS that had a Nuclear Core, so he obviously concluded that nothing but tiny microscopic filaments would be left of his previous MS. He quickly exited the hangers, not wanting to remember anything having to do with the MS and the memories it carried for him, at the moment. He ended traveling all around the ship wondering what to do. He even ended up finding Kira some time later, but Kira didn't seem in the mood to talk.  
  
His responses were short and to the point, and Athrun quickly left his presence wondering what was wrong with him. He vaguely wondered if Kira got in a fight with Lacus over something stupid, then he wondered what the relationship between the two of them actually were. They weren't a couple, unless they kept it a secret, and they weren't just friends, it was all too clear by their posture around each other. He sure hoped they got together; it would be good for the both of them.

* * *

Andrew was sitting stiffly in his Captain's seat in the command room. He felt very paranoid about something, but he couldn't tell what it was about. He rarely liked when he got those feelings, because his intuitions were usually right, with something bad usually happening.  
  
"Sir, we are now within a 10 minute flight time from Junius Eight."  
  
"Good, good. The evasive flight tactics seemed to have worked considering no one attacked us on our way here." Bartfield said.  
  
"Sir, if I may ask, was the precaution really necessary?"  
  
"Yes, I think it was incredibly necessary, even Captain Ramius agreed with me on that one." Bartfield answered. "Well I think were out of the woods now, I don't think anyone would be foolish enough to attack when we're within 5 minutes time to getting support from the Plants(1). But still be on the alert, you never know how desperate anyone can be for attacking."  
  
"Yes sir, hmm... that's strange..."  
  
"What is Lieutenant?"  
  
"Well it seems that the area were about to enter was a stage for a previous battle. It must have been a large scale battle at that, from the incredible amount of debris that is lying around in space."  
  
"I didn't know there was any significant battle around Junius Eight, but it could always have been space debris floating from Junius Seven. It wasn't that far away, and the explosion was tremendous."  
  
"Yes, that could be it sir, it might be a little hard flying through the place without slowing down, so I'd say our ETA is now about 12 to 13 minutes instead of 10. We are in the thick of the debris now Captain."  
  
"Right, alert Junius Eight of our del-"  
  
"Sir! Radar jamming, I don't believe this is normal sir!"  
  
"What! Alert for battle stations, pilots in their MS, and get weapon operators in here!" Bartfield yelled quickly. No one bothered replying because talking was considered wasting time in a battle.  
  
"Four- No Five MS, Strike Dagger types, from the left and 7 Strike Daggers from right." A radar operator yelled.  
  
Bartfield grumbled, "This whole place is a trap..."  
  
"I count 2, 250 meter class ships, and 4, 130 meter class ships."  
  
"There's 20 Moebius flying towards us from behind!" Another crewman yelled.

* * *

Kira was already in his MS, waiting for clearance to launch by the time he saw Athrun in his screens. He hoped that he would show soon, because he figured he'll need help.  
  
"Freedom you are cleared for launch."  
  
"Kira Yamato, Freedom, launching!" Kira yelled out.  
  
Freedom flew out of the hanger, and it had its Phase Shift mode activated. Kira looked at this screen and already saw two M1 Astrays in front of him. They were flying towards the large group of Moebius's that were trying to flank them. Two more soon joined them, and the Buster Gundam with the Strike Rogue joined the M1's also. His intercom buzzed to life, interrupting him thoughts.  
  
"Pilot Yamato, join Frela and take the Daggers at 2 O'clock."  
  
"Roger." Kira said, vaguely remembering that Frela was one of the newer pilots that would fly a M1 Astray.  
  
The M1 finally came out and caught up to him. He flew towards the 7 Daggers with the pilot in tow.  
  
"Hey Yamato, what's the plan?" A feminine voice spoke to him, with only the speakers activated.  
  
"I'm going to need help with support-shooting. Stay behind and don't do anything to attract attention to you too early. I need you to provide support shots; the M1 isn't fast enough for 7 Daggers anyways let alone 1." He explained.  
  
"Hmph, fine, roger." He could tell she was annoyed.  
  
"You're carrying a sniper anyways." He added as she followed his order and snuck behind a destroyed wreckage of a ship. "Make sure to get their long rangers before they get you."  
  
He quickly picked up the speed of Freedom, narrowly dodging the large amount of debris that surrounded the area.  
  
_'Perfect covers, they can't all rush me. The left-most MS seems to be the leader, he has 'Agni' 320mm-impulse cannon attached to his left shoulder, modified, so it can't be as powerful as one I had for Strike. 3 Daggers with long range weapons, they're probably support MS's. Two carrying normal 57mm beam rifles, one's carrying a modified bazooka of Calamity Gundam. Damn, got to watch out for that one, it seems it's for middle-range fighting, not my specialty.'_ Kira evaluated the situation in a mere second.  
  
He went for the leader first knowing that killing him would make the others less effective. The long rangers shot at him first as he guessed they would. He quickly dodged, while returning fire at them. They dodged also, but he got one in the MS's left arm. Pity it didn't get his gun arm. Kira shot his modified "Lupus" beam rifle and got the leader in the shoulders, severing his left arm and destroying the "Agni" impulse cannon.  
  
The leader quickly pulled out his saber with his right arm, and the one with the bazooka got close enough to shoot Kira. He dodged but it, but the shot hit a large debris behind him, throwing Kira off course from the resulting explosion. Freedom righted himself quickly and shot at the one with the bazooka. The one in the bazooka dodged well and quickly, so Kira came up with a new tactic. He feinted a shot to the Dagger's left and shot quickly to his right. The feint worked and he destroyed the Dagger with the bazooka.

* * *

Athrun was in the battle-field against 5 Strike Daggers with only a rookie, by the name of James, to back him up. It would have been a bad situation if the Daggers weren't also rookies. They had no battle experience and made common rookie mistakes. Some of which were staying too close to one another. They also shot their weapons too early, not knowing the ranges of their weapons well enough.  
  
The rookie on his side ended up killing one, but got his gun arm damaged. Athrun quickly backed the rookie up after destroying a Dagger with a beam saber and having his back pack destroy another.  
  
"You alright?" Athrun said to the rookie over the intercom.  
  
"Yeah, my right arms useless and I'm not exactly pro at the beam sabers."  
  
"Better then nothing, make sure you don't forget about your Vulcan's on your head either." Here Athrun had to dodge a shot. "Not best for anything more-"Athrun had his backpack attacking, while dodging again. "-then really close range, but its effective against the MS faces."  
  
"Thanks." James said.  
  
Athrun fired his Lupus once again and it destroyed another Dagger. There was only one left and Athrun with James charged at it.  
  
"Make sure to not stay close to me, gives easier targets, fly like a drunk, it provides harder to predict moves." Athrun said while advising James all the way.  
  
Athrun reattached with his backpack to give him faster speed. He shot his Lupus to make sure to keep the Dagger on alert. He didn't want the Dagger to find a good stable shooting position. He shot again with the Dagger dodging once again. The Dagger was a quick one and Athrun was getting annoyed.  
  
"Surround and attack." Athrun told James.  
  
Athrun knew that without a doubt he could have killed the Dagger quickly with his beam saber, but wanted to give the rookie some experience. Besides if the rookie improved it would only help him also. James charged with his beam saber and Athrun was rather impressed at how James destroyed the Dagger's beam rifle.  
  
Athrun shot at the Dagger and this time it didn't dodge to well. It got shot on its right shoulder. It blew the right arm off and the MS was now helpless. It didn't have a gun or a saber. It only had a shield now, and it couldn't do anything. Athrun decided to let the rookie finish him off.  
  
"Think you can handle a defenseless MS?" Athrun said sarcastically.  
  
"Sure." James said.  
  
The M1 charged at the Dagger and sliced the Daggers leg. Then the Dagger did something James and Athrun didn't expect. The Dagger grabbed onto the M1 and drew it close, and then it self-destructed killing both the Dagger and the M1 pilot, James. Athrun was shocked at how the situation turned out and was incredibly sad at the turn of events.  
  
Athrun spoke in the cockpit, yet knowing that no one would hear, "Last lesson rookie, a lesson where even veterans forget... never underestimate your opponents..." Athrun sighed.

* * *

Two shots came from behind, but he dodged those also. He turned and shot rapidly at the two Daggers with the regular beam rifles. He got one around the head, rendering the suit useless, and skimmed the other in its legs. The leader was close to Kira but he got shot. The leader never expected and his MS blew up. Kira silently thanked Frela was saving his ass, and returned to the matters at hand.  
  
The Daggers seemed distracted with their leader's loss, and Kira used it to his advantage. He shot the Dagger with the beam rifle in the head and flew for the remaining three long range shooters. One got shot by Frela, with the rest of the Daggers being distracted by Kira. The remaining two shot at Kira and he dodged once again.  
  
He shot one of the Daggers in chest, shooting through the cockpit, with the MS exploding. The explosion rocked the other MS of balance, what with the MS being too closed to its comrade. Kira used the situation to his advantage and shot the last Dagger in the chest. A piece of debris seemed to take the blunt of the shot, leaving a smothering hole near the chest but not at the cockpit. He shot again, but the Dagger seemed to regain focus of the situation and dodged. Unfortunately for the pilot, Frela shot to where the Dagger dodged and the Dagger ran into the shot, blowing it up.  
  
"Nice work Frela, good shooting."  
  
"Thanks Yamato."  
  
"Pilot Yamato," the intercom spoke, "You may return the battles- FUCK, Yamato 11 O'clock 35 degrees above you."  
  
Kira looked towards where he was told and noticed lights that were not created by the stars in space. It was the flames from the exhaust of MS's. He swore quietly, which was so unlike himself. He could see shots being fired at them, but none of them hit. They were too far away.  
  
"Frela, guess were not done. Same plan this time we get closer to Eternal, we need support."  
  
"Roger."  
  
"Uh... intercom guy," Kira felt really stupid right now for not knowing the guys name, "how many?"  
  
"There are 15, all Daggers, but there're 30 Moebius behind them."  
  
"Damn, Frela change of plans, go closer to Eternal, but stay around Buster and Strike. There more close range, and will need your help." Kira said, he opened another channel, "Athrun, we're the fastest we can intercept them first."  
  
"Yeah, let's go." Athrun's voice sounded tired to Kira.  
  
Kira flew at a reckless speed through the debris belt to intercept the large numbers of suits and mobile armors. He could see Justice on the other side of the Eternal also flying at incredible speed to reach them.  
  
He got close and went into Freedom's HiMAT firing position. Hip rail-guns and wing shoulder beam-cannons shot at the MS's. 3 of Freedom's shots hit but the fourth dodged. There went Kira's surprise; he saw Justice shoot its "Lupus" rifle, while separating from its backpack. He and Athrun flew through the mass of MS's and MA, dodging fire like crazy.  
  
A lot of support fires were given to them, but it didn't destroy many. He vaguely saw Athrun slicing through a MS with his saber and his backpack destroying another. He shot his beam rifle many times, destroying 2 MS's. It ended up being disabled as he dodged a shot, hitting the gun but not him. He quickly flew away from the defective gun that exploded from the overheating of the ammunition. He pulled out his twin beam sabers and sliced through another MS's. By that time, Buster and the Strike Rogue came and provided help. They both destroyed 3 MS's with Frela providing long range help. The rest of the M1's helped out but two of them died. The M1's destroyed 4 of the Moebius and the remaining 4 MS.  
  
_'Where are the Moebius in the brunt of this?'_ Kira asked noticing that the Moebius weren't fighting much.  
  
It seemed that the Moebius flew away from the brunt of the fight, and the MS's were the distractions for something. A group of 26 Moebius were flying the long way around the battle to the Eternal, Kusanagi, and the Archangel. The ships shot out at the brunt of the MA's and destroyed quite a few. Kira and the rest were shooting at the MA's also.  
  
Kira hit one and noticed that it provided a large explosion, an incredibly large explosion that took out 5 of the Moebius's nearby. Kira's eyes almost popped out of his head, as he concluded that they most be using nuclear warheads.  
  
Kira opened all channels, regardless if the enemy listened and yelled, "They got nuclear warheads!"

* * *

"Fire the linear gun but save the missiles, too much debris! Concentrate the positron gun to the left of the Moebius, don't want to accidentally friendly fire!" Ramius yelled at the crew.

* * *

This scared the others into a frenzy of action, shooting down the Moebius at an incredible rate. But in the end there were too many of them, and there were no telling how many of the ships or which ships were carrying the nuclear warhead. This in itself was strange considering that usually the nuclear missiles were at least twice the size of the Moebius making it hard to conceal. Kira figured that they must have modified it to a smaller version and fit it in the storage of the ship; after all it was only to destroy warships not a whole colony.  
  
One Moebius got close to the Eternal and shot a small missile towards it. It ended up hitting a small debris close to the Eternal, proving Kira right. The explosion was gigantic more then enough to destroy Eternal in one blow. The Moebius quickly got shot down, and the MS's and the ships were shooting at the Moebius's in frenzy.  
  
There were 5 Moebius remaining, and 3 seemed to have a nuclear missile with them for they shot it at the Archangel and the Kusanagi. Kira shot one and Fleya shot the other. The last one went towards the Kusanagi but was shot down by a shot that came from behind the Kusanagi. There coming, were the Plant re-enforcements. The rest of the Moebius were destroyed with fury at the close call of the ship's destruction. A public channel opened up for all the pilots and the ships.  
  
"This is Yzak Joule, of the ZAFT. My comrades and I are to escort you to the Plant. Follow us back to safety."  
  
The ships followed the MS's of ZAFT and while some of the MS's of the Eternal/Kusanagi/Archangel returned to the hangers, many stayed out, being wary of the debris that provided perfect cover for a surprise attack.  
  
The ships ended up reaching the Plant safely and without further interruptions. The crew and pilots exited their respective ships and MS's. Captain Bartfield, Captain Ramius, and Captain Zechs(2) met with Yzak. They started talking rapidly while exiting the hanger.

* * *

(1)Five minutes, if the Eternal is flying to Junius Eight, with Junius Eight also sending MS troops to help. They'll meet in the middle of the ten minute flight, and there you are!  
  
(2)Zechs will be the Orb ship, Kusanagi's Captain. I forgot to put a Captain for the ship. Cagalli is more of a diplomat or representative for Orb, considering her father's position. Sorry for the confusion. 


	7. Chapter 7

To Rebuild From Ashes  
  
Chapter VII  
  
A/N: I don't own anything.

* * *

(Junius Eight)  
  
Lacus was not having a good time at the moment. She currently found herself situated in a room with Captain Bartfield, Captain Ramius, Captain Zechs, Ms. Attha, and two other men, who were the heads of the Plant. Mr. Smith and Mr. Lisp had both been explaining the current situation to them for the last hour, and frankly most of the information weren't really interesting or new to the group.  
  
"Intelligence reports that the attack wasn't even scratching the true force that the Blue Cosmos wields. In fact from what they said, the group was a rogue part of the Blue Cosmos. They couldn't handle waiting so they attacked before even whoever is the head of Blue Cosmos gave the go." Mr. Lisp said.  
  
"From what intelligence gathered, it seems that the Blue Cosmos is also picking things up, and I believe that they will actually be bolder now that the know of you three. It was supposed to be a secret but because of the attack they know your true force and know what you can handle." Mr. Smith said.  
  
Captain Ramius spoke up, "Then we should leave this Plant, we're only endangering the lives of those on the Plant needlessly for now. Most of the damages have been fixed, and we're all fully re-supplied."  
  
"No... We have stepped up security to full war-alert. No ship will be allowed to even come within missile fire radius until they are surrounded by MS's to be searched. I guarantee that no ships will enter until fully searched and everyone coming in will be looked into, past associations and everything. Anyone even remotely suspicious will be detained until your departure." Mr. Smith said.  
  
"Besides, it is standard procedure to allow the crews and pilots a full 5 hour rest period when docking. It wouldn't be best for anyone to get suspicious and worried with cutting the routine short." Mr. Lisp reasoned.  
  
Captain Bartfield nodded, while Captain Ramius looked uneasy. She seemed to remember the past events of Heliopolis all too well. Lacus looked towards Ms. Attha who also seemed to share the captain's thoughts.  
  
"Well might as well introduce to you the person you all will be working with for the next whenever. I present to you the Pilot Jule who is the Pilot of the MS Duel," Here a white haired teen stepped into the room, "I believe that your pilots have past associations with him." Mr. Lisp looked at the group.  
  
Captain Bartfield and Captain Zechs looked indifferent, while Captain Ramius blanched. She knew of who the pilot was and was wondering the reactions of the crew and him interacting.  
  
"Now this will only be the pilot that will be located upon one of your ships, however we are also providing a Laurasia Class Battle-ship. It will have full crew and a captain. Here let me introduce you to Captain Helios." Here a stern looking man in the mid 40's stepped into the room.  
  
"Well also there will be 6 MS's docked with a veteran pilot for each suit. They will report to Captain Helios who will serve under you." Mr. Smith explained.  
  
"Now why don't you just enjoy yourselves for now? We will alert you if anything comes up, after all 4 hours is a long wait doing nothing. I'm sure being stuck in the spaceships isn't your idea of relaxing either." Mr. Lisp said to the group, smiling. "You may leave, we have a few more things to discuss with Pilot Jule."  
  
The group got up from their respective seats and exited the room.

* * *

(An hour later)  
  
Kira and his friends, Athrun, Lacus, Cagalli, Sai, Mirillia, and Dearka sat in a café located by the edge of the Plant's city. It was supposedly one of the best places for quiet time and the atmostphere was perfect the moody group. Kira looked around and admired the quaint yet beautiful architecture that was put for the structure of the café. The café wasn't very brightly lit, but it only seemed to enhance the aura of the place, and the furnishings were quite comfortable and homely looking.  
  
Kira then looked at each of his friends from left to right, starting from Athrun first. Athrun seemed to be looking into his cup of tea intensely almost as if he was one of those fraud fortune tellers reading tea leaves. Kira observed his posture and it seemed as if he was more tired then usual. His civilian clothing seemed to not fit him as comfortably as he saw it did at the previous Plant.  
  
Lacus' expression showed her mind elsewhere. Her eyes were pointed on somewhere behind the where Kira sat, but her pupils weren't focused. It was rare for Kira to see Lacus' usual alert mind wandering. Kira then looked at Cagalli and saw that she was looking at Athrun. It wasn't hard for even Kira, who was often told that he was really dense; to see the worry she had for Athrun.  
  
Kira looked towards Sai, and he was looking even worse for the wear then he did when Fllay broke up with him long ago. Kira could see the black circles under his eyes and his appearance, usually sharp and well dressed, was ragged. Kira inwardly sighed at how Sai must be taking Fllay's death. Even now he felt guilty about it. His dreams nowadays were actually nightmares that tormented him with the images of Fllay's death, and imagining the rest of his friends to blame him.  
  
Truth be told, he was used to dreams like the ones he was already having. He had them for over a year now, the nightmares just having the death of different people to haunt him. He used to wake up in shouts and sweating profoundly, but now he just accepted it. It still tormented him, but he learned to hide it better.  
  
Kira then looked at Mirillia. She lost her boyfriend not too long ago, although it was much earlier then Fllay's death. She seemed more stable now, and Kira even caught her giving Dearka weird glances every so often. Dearka for the most part was more uneasy and wisely stayed silent for others, not because he was brooding.  
  
Kira desperately wanted to end this morbid moment and help cheer his friends up. Yet Kira didn't know if that was such a wise thing. His friends were obviously dealing with some issues and ignoring their problems weren't the best solution. Although, Kira had to admit, bathing in them wasn't such a good idea either.  
  
Kira himself wasn't in the best of conditions as of now, he never was after killing, but this time he chose to fight. To help others, to make sure they didn't have to fight. He would probably regret all the blood on his hands later, but Kira took cherish that the bloods on his hand was limiting the blood on others.  
  
Kira still didn't think it right, but when faced with horrible situations, moral had to be ignored and priorities rearranged. He would have to bottle up the pain again, just like he did before. He knew in the long run that it wasn't the best of plans, but for the immediate situation it worked fine. Cutting off his humanity, his emotions helped him live through battles.  
  
It didn't make him hesitate, knowing full well that they weren't pulling back either. Kira didn't know if what he was doing was truly right, or if he was just justifying his own actions to feel better. Kira knew that he could have let some live in the battle, yet he didn't. Had so much changed in the last few days to make him want to kill the people opposing him?  
  
To oppose the peace that they were trying to keep? Was he a hypocrite, killing to maintain peace? Kira shrugged his thoughts off, if one didn't believe in himself, who would?  
  
Kira needed a distraction and he wondered getting up and leaving would be better then asking the others. He didn't want to step into their free space, yet at the same time wanted to help them. God knows they did it enough for him, well most of them. He didn't know Dearka very well.  
  
"So... What do you guys want to do with 4 hours to waste?" Kira said reluctantly breaking the silence. He even chose his words carefully, saying "waste" rather then "kill" all the while wondering why they were relieved 4 hours.  
  
Many of his friends looked at Kira, as if waking up from a nightmare. All of them seemed to give his question some thought. Dearka was the first to speak out loud.  
  
"Let go to the IPEX theaters, I heard they had some good ones coming out! Let's check it out." Dearka sounded happy and relieved to do anything.  
  
"How about an amusement park, I heard this Plant has one. It's a permanent one so it should be fun enough." Mirillia spoke up. The amusement parks were set up by the Plants to help put people's mind off the war, the Plants built gigantic amusement parks in many of the Plants. It was advanced and had many things from restaurants to arcades in there.  
  
"How about going to the latest electronics fair?" Sai proposed. Most of them looked at him questioning his sanity, only Athrun looked mildly interested. Sai blushed. "Okay okay, I think the amusement park is a great idea."  
  
"I second the movies!" Cagalli said excitedly all the while looking pointedly at Athrun.  
  
Athrun could literally feel her intense stare as he said, "I also think the movies are a good place to go." Cagalli seemed to be satisfied with answer and smiled.  
  
Dearka couldn't help but cough something that sounded like "whipped" and "loser." Cagalli glared at Dearka who in turn shut up.  
  
Lacus seemed thoughtful and said, "The amusement park sounds perfect," with her trademark innocent smile.  
  
Kira noticed that it was a tie, and gulped being the last one to have to answer. He could feel the stares of everyone at the table and it was unnerving. Kira wouldn't mind the movies, but Lacus wanted to go to the amusement park. Kira himself didn't mind the amusement parks, but he never went to one before so he didn't know if going there was going to be fun or not.  
  
Kira could understand why Lacus wanted to go to the amusement park; she wasn't the type to like loud noises and being confined in a dark room with many noisy and rude people. The main problem with deciding was the consequences of each choice. So it was either to please Lacus and have Cagalli on his back or to disappoint Lacus and not end up being killed by Cagalli.

* * *

Athrun couldn't help but grin at Kira's current situation. It didn't even phase him that he himself was in a somewhat similar situation just a few seconds earlier.

* * *

Neither sounded like a good deal, so it was pretty much a lose-lose situation for Kira. He had to choose so he decided reluctantly that he could handle Cagalli with Athrun's help and went with the first choice.  
  
"Um... Let's go to the amusement park." Kira said. He looked at Cagalli who seemed to be seeing red and then looked at Lacus. He didn't see it for long, but he caught a glimpse of a smirk. Kira couldn't believe that he just saw that! He knew he wasn't seeing things. Lacus Klein, the picture of innocence and naivety, made Kira made squirm on purpose!  
  
Kira glared at Lacus who in turned gave him one of her innocent smiles. She topped it off with tilting her head to the side, giving her the confused look. Kira would have normally been fooled if he didn't see her eyes were full of mirth.  
  
That is how 15 minutes later he found himself at the entrance amusement park with a smiling Lacus and an angry Cagalli. Dearka was once again coughing his oh-so fake cough, but this time Cagalli wasn't pissed off at him as it was directed at Kira.  
  
Kira smiled, at least the morbid air broken. The seven bought an all day ticket with speed stream for each of them and entered the amusement park. The group separated into pairs and a triplet agreeing to meet an hour later at the entrance once again.  
  
Kira and Lacus went in one pair, Athrun and Cagalli in another, with the last triplet being Mirillia, Dearka, and Sai. Athrun and Cagalli immediately rushed to the roller coaster, the triplets going to the prize events, and Kira and Lacus still haven't decided.  
  
Lacus kept insisting that Kira choose, while Kira did vice-versa. Kira then made a compromise saying that Lacus choose first then he'll choose. First stop was to the Ferris wheel. Kira and Lacus went to the front of the line and entered right away after show them their speed stream and all day bracelet.  
  
Kira and Lacus went into one of the Ferris wheel compartments and got secured in. The ride lasted for 5 minutes, giving the two enough time to look around the Plant because the Ferris wheel was so large. After they got off they went to a water ride. He intended to get payback at Lacus for getting Cagalli mad at him, but the plan seemed to backfire.  
  
For some reason every time water shot at the two when they were in the ride, Kira kept getting hit. There were the occasional splashes of water that sprayed at Lacus, but at every bump of water it seemed that the circular ride (think Knott's) twisted around to make Kira take the brunt of the blow.  
  
Kira was grumbling as he exited and trying to dry himself off. He looked towards Lacus and saw her waving at one of the people that oversaw the ride. He groaned at how obvious the situation must have been. Somehow Lacus must have known what Kira was trying to do, and Lacus must have talked to the tech's, who made sure to make Kira's ride as wet as possible. Lacus turned around from waving and smiled cheerfully at Kira. Kira, weakly grinned, having been outsmarted by Lacus.

* * *

(Currently on a Roller Coaster)  
  
Athrun was currently shouting near screaming as he went for another drop. Cagalli, sitting next to him on the roller coaster, was laughing like crazy. As the ride was over they got off, Athrun albeit a bit more shakily. The moment they exited the ride Cagalli practically pounced on Athrun.  
  
"Haha! You should hear your voice. Is big, bad MS pilot scared of a wee-bit of a drop?" Cagalli said trying to maintain her posture.  
  
"Shut up Cagalli, that isn't funny." Athrun retorted, which only made Cagalli laugh harder.  
  
"So what should we do next?" Athrun asked trying to get Cagalli off laughing at him.  
  
"Hmm... let's go for another roller coaster, unless you're too scared?" Cagalli asked baiting him.  
  
"Fine..." Athrun said in exasperation.

* * *

(Somewhere in the Amusement Park)  
  
Mirillia was not having an easy time hanging out with Sai and Dearka. There was still uneasiness between the two. She could understand why; even now she had a hard time being around Dearka. She thought him a nice guy, if a little too arrogant, but she truly did think he was a good person. But there were still too many scars from the past. Scars that would take more time to heal.  
  
Mirillia suggested that they go to the bumper cars. The concept behind the ride was a relic. Built around -200 CE, yet it still brought cheers amongst those who tried it out. From what she read about the past, the bumper cars were different. First the bumper cars didn't even look like cars, they looked like passenger space ships. Second the they were situated in a closed room with a hologram of space all around them.  
  
It was nothing special to Mirillia, a person who lived on the colonies her whole life, and ended up being stuck in a spaceship for the better part of a year. The rides they were in were also not a 2D concept but 3D. They could fly around everywhere in the room, and not be limited by gravity. It wasn't anything special, but it served as a distraction.

* * *

(Front Entrance)  
  
An hour or so later, the group met up again at the front entrance. Kira was still wet, from another water ride that also backfired. Lacus was behind Kira grinning, no upon closer look she was smirking.  
  
Athrun and Cagalli walked hand in hand, with Cagalli dragging Athrun everywhere. Athrun just gave Cagalli and exasperated look, giving everyone he knew pleading looks. Yet no one was foolish enough to try and help Athrun under fear of Cagalli's wrath.  
  
The triplets just looked at Kira and Athrun in amusement. Mirillia and Sai were happy for Kira who seemed at ease around Lacus. Sai didn't want to admit it, but he knew that Fllay gave Kira more pain then help. Mirillia just wished her kind-hearted friend a happy relationship.  
  
Dearka was pointing at Athrun, calling him names all the while laughing. Athrun could do nothing but glare at Dearka. The group agreed to eat something, having only drank tea or coffee at the café.

* * *

(Somewhere in the Amusement Park)  
  
Kira walked out of the restaurant with the group in tow. Cagalli was complaining at the price of the food, and while Kira agreed, he knew that it was going to be more expensive then usual.  
  
Athrun seemed to be pleading for Cagalli to shut up as they were attracting undo attentions to themselves. The group then went to see the shows the amusement park had. The shows changed monthly and this time it was some spin-off of some movie, but it was a stage performance with visual effects and steam.  
  
Kira looked at his watch as he was leaving the show with the rest of his group. He noticed that there was around an hour left to stay at the amusement park. The first hour was spent nicely, the second was mostly spent eating, and most of the third was spent watching the play.  
  
The group wandered for the last hour, going on any rides that seemed good. It was an easy and happy moment for the group. The group that was soon going to be risking there lives for peace. To fight for peace, to make sure that Plants like the ones they were standing on wouldn't be torn by war.  
  
However the good times of the group were cut short. All of their walkie talkies sparked to life informing them to return to the hangers. The group's 4 hours were up, and now they had to return to the confines of the space ships.

* * *

Athrun dreaded having to go back. He longed to be back at the amusement park like any other normal kid would have been at the moment. He dearly wondered if his decision to stay with the Klein Faction and being a member of the Peacekeeper Organization was the right thing to do.  
  
The group was currently in 2 SUV's that were driving the group to the hangers. The guys were in one car with the girls in the other. It was a boring and uneventful ride. The only thing nice was the distance of the ride, prolonging Athrun's arrival at the hangers and ultimately the ships.  
  
The cars arrived at the hanger and dropped the teenagers off. It seemed that they were the last to arrive; it was expected considering that the amusement park had probably the most traffic around it then wherever the others went to.

* * *

Kira walked to the place where the pilots and crew had to check back in. That was soon taken care of and the group soon entered into the part of the hanger that held the Archangel, Kusanagi, and the Eternal. The group was about to separate into their respective divisions based on whose ships they served under, but saw that everyone from each ship was situated outside in front of the Kusanagi.  
  
In the center were Captain Ramius and a group of people that looked from ZAFT. They were standing off to the side looking uninterested about the commotion that they were making. The captain said something that caused a great deal of muttering to go on from the group that surrounded the ZAFT soldiers.  
  
"Now as I was saying before so many of you interrupted." Captain Ramius spoke in an annoyed voice. "These fellow soldiers will be your allies and will help for our mission. It isn't like you all didn't know about the help we were going to receive from the Plants. Now the group will be stationed to their own ships, but one pilot will serve under my ship. I introduce to you Pilot Jule; those under my captaincy will see a lot more of him from now, so I suggest getting along with him."

* * *

Athrun, who was standing to the side of Kira, almost choked on hearing who was going to be joining them. Athrun turned to Dearka whose mouth suddenly was large enough to fit his own fist. Many of the others didn't seem to know him that well. Only Lacus and Kira knew him and that was vaguely.

* * *

"Yzak..." Dearka mumbled.  
  
'Fuck! How can this be happening, whatever gods that are up there must have a fucked sense of humor! Damn you all to the deepest parts of hell! Of all the soldiers from ZAFT, the most prejudice and stubborn coordinator had to be chosen to help with the Peacekeepers!'  
  
Dearka also realized that he would be in the same ship as Yzak, at least the others that knew him didn't have to be within his proximity for most of the time in space. He hoped that maybe he could enlist a transfer to another ship.

* * *

Kira knew who the guy was; he was the pilot of duel. He was the guy that Kira scarred, even if the scar was removable, and the guy that seemed to be royally pissed off at him every time they met.  
  
"...Well get back to your ships, we will depart for Sextilis Four..." The rest of Captain Ramius' speech was unheard by Kira as he was already heading back to the Eternal. Athrun and Lacus trailed by his side. Lacus seemed rather unperturbed by the news, but she didn't really know the past histories between Kira, Athrun, and Yzak. She only knew that Yzak was a soldier that served with Athrun and may have some conflicts with Kira.  
  
Soon the now group of four ships left for the Plant Sextilis Four.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long while since I last updated. I have a block at where this story will go next. I've been questioning how and why this story goes as it is now. I mean if it was realistic, logically a lot of what I'm writing won't be happening the way it is going. I'm trying to find a way to explain to myself how to write the story while still going with my plot.  
  
It's rather embarrassing but as I was surfing through GundamOfficial, I've come across the significance of each Plant cities. Lol, I only knew that Junius Seven was an agricultural Plant before being blown to smithereens never thought that all of the Junius Plants were agricultural. There is also the fact that if the Junius Plants are right by each other as seen in the anime, how would it take 6 hours for a normal flight from one to another Plant? So yeah... if you would just shut down the logical part of your brain, it will help me a lot. Sorry for the confusion.  
  
I hope to make the next Gundam Seed better, but I gotta finish this one first.

Zeno the Stoic: Thanks for the review

davis45108: Thanks for the review like your story, hope you update soon.

nifer-inc: Thanks for reviewing, the fight scene was tiring, but I like the fact that you really don't have to think too much at writing it.


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